Gray arrives as third Everton signing of the week

Gray is a good signing and I look forward to see him playing in a rejuvenated Everton side.

Why hasn't he succeeded? Here's a hint from Brendan Rodgers last summer, shortly before Leicester shipped him off to Bayer:

“He’s obviously a player we want to keep. When he’s focused and concentrated, and then plays to that level (of his substitute performance against Watford), you see the impact he has... He’s got wonderful talent. He can dribble, he can do everything. With Demarai, it’s always been about that end product, creating goals and assisting goals on a regular basis, and then working with an intensity to fit in with the structure of the team."

Note the words... focused, concentrated, intensity. In other words, the young man needs to get his head out of his ass and into the game.

If Rafa can make that happen, this could be a helluva deal. If not, well, it's only £1.7 million.

Apparently his accuracy rate for hitting Benteke last season was poor.

The good thing about this strategy is that you don't need every purchase to fit properly, one in three is still going to give you an excellent return, and if we can unearth a new Coleman, or a Vardy (who cost around £1million from Fleetwood), but have. afew duffers, it will be far better business than buying a few Gueye (£7million) and DCL (£1.62) types rather than a Sigurdsson (£45m), Iwobi, Klassen, Walcott, Bolasie, Schniederlin or Tosun (all the wrong side of £20 million)

And good stuff Charles, it does look like the market for players has changed drastically and Brands may be good in this phase. I was jealous of Leicester having Gray when we had an outside chance for him so this could be really well timed for him as well as us.

He pissed all over us when he left, zero respect or gratitude for the club.

At what point do we dig in and show some pride?

I'm hoping the wages paid aren't silly, we've been far too generous lately.

I can't complain about Senor Benitez's performance so far, even though I didn't want him.

In some respects it turns us into a plainer side - but the two wide players do at least add some pace and the promise of delivery into the box.

Disappointing that we're not getting excited about the likes of Bailey but maybe it's a necessary step for the club to reset.

The fact that we're so constrained now by FFP means:

- we really need to do what Leicester, the RS and others do and focus on resale value of new recruits; and

- really the way we've been going about business is not sustainable and if we don't treat this as a wake up call it could bite us on the arse.

As much as FFP is a about creating a cartel at the top - it does also help to stop clubs (or at least clubs like us) from going bust.

Gomes was the only one who could find that forward pass and too much of our playbook of getting out of the defensive third depended on him. Others tightened up on the ball and he at least would come deep to try and get something going and was lambasted for it. Have that laugh, he's likely going to take the gentleman's route and resist returning the favor.

We are in a bit of a mess and kicking some of these on their way out the door is not a good look. Just sayin'.

Ross Barkley has lots of skill but really lacks in other areas so forget about him. We have similar underachievers already here.

I like the fact we have signed two wide players who have bags of Premier League experience and have cost little or nothing.

I don't think Richarlison is Madrid-bound simply because they can't afford him.

I also don't believe the Barkley rumour has any legs.

Gomes, James, Bernard will be gone but unfortunately I also believe Iwobi will be staying and be given an opportunity in the new set-up.

As to who comes in – Bailey is on Aston Villa's radar so, if that ever had legs, it is running out of steam.

It will be interesting to see who gets more game time out of Gray and Townsend but I suspect the latter will show the sort of consistency and work ethic that Benitez will prioritise.

Times are different: there would be uproar if Real Madrid went out and spent £80 to 100M on any player. In Barcelona, there are massive strides being taken to cut the wage bill.

Player exchange maybe but a straight purchase won't happen.

As for the rumours of Ross Barkley coming back, let's hope they have some substance. I would welcome him back with open arms.

If we looking for low-cost replacements, we could offer Christopher Biggins the role of chairman.

He's behind you! Oh No he isn't!

Doesn't time fly?

We all loved Gomes during his loan period, a class act who never lost the ball. Similarly delighted when we signed him. That horrendous injury did for him, amazing comeback but he's rarely looked the player he was.

Two Portuguese guys sat next to us one week, mates of Marco Silva, they couldn't say enough about what a top bloke Gomes is. We can do better now, but he was a player I really liked when on top of his game, I'll wish him well.

Having seen at the match, watched on the telly and mainly this last season, listened to Everton radio at the match, I despaired at the pathetic performances put on in the name of Everton Football Club.

Right now, I'd take a chance on these two lads rather than Iwobi, Bernard, Sigurdsson or Gomes with one of them on a wing and the other as sub.

I think it's a great bit of transfer business for two squad players, as that's what we've signed them as. If we get rid of any or all of the above and sign better wingers and midfielders to replace those going, then even better. We will still have these two energetic, fast and keen players to come in.

None of us knows (I assume) how bad our financial state is with regard to that bloody FFP and, even if it's better than we think, I'd have both of these lads in the team before any of those just mentioned.

I'll say good luck to them; they show willing, so let's see what they can do before condemning them.

Dont tell us son. Show us

Do that and the Evertoninans will love you.

Probably never know the full in's and out's, but be interesting to know, if we were at the back of his mind, and what influence that may have had on him choosing to 'make good' his hitherto wrong decision.

Can see this guy being (if fit) an integral part of our left attack, with the odd goal and assist, and crosses to Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison if they are both still with us at the start of the new season.

Andy, are you sure you spelt 'winger' correctly? :-)

He'll fit right in.

You can't just blatantly advertise your services on ToffeeWeb like that...

So is Townsend.

And Barkley.

And Paco and his firm 🇪🇸

Oh well, perhaps the 3rd kit will be nice.

Does anyone remember"On the Ball", does anyone the penalty competition? Does anyone remember a big lummox of a lad knocking in ten out of ten against division one goalies? The fucker never missed, and that WAS penalty pressure. He said missing from that distance (12 yards) never entered his mind.

Anyway, on the back of this, he was offered a contract with Sunderland. I guess he was on about a tenner a week, which probably made him a big earner in the days of Bobby Kerr. So, turns out he never missed a chance. Couldn't run, couldn't tackle, called for his mummy when he saw a picture of chopper Harris but, he was BRILLIANT at what he said he was. Oh, should add, he never missed a chance because he err... never got one.

We'll get more out of Townsend and Gray than the £50mil plus (and that's just transfer fees) we blew on Walcott and Bolasie.

If you love having a ball. You don't need to do it on the pitch for the fans to love you. There will be legions of County road regulars who will do that.

Something just occurred to me; I have not missed the game anywhere near as much as I have in previous summers, perhaps the Euro's filled the hole... but it's a long time since match-goers spilled onto the pavement from all County Road alehouses.

The craic is always fierce. The jokes. The piss taking. The wind ups. The tactical bollocks spouted by half-cut people who would normally know better. Half-witted bets that will never come up. The irrepressible hope ... The few hours where people leave their shit jobs and other worries behind and just enjoy the company of Evertonian mates, without a Kopite in sight

I'm not missing the football we have had to endure in recent seasons... but I'm not half missing going the match.

Hopefully that’s the Benitez strategy. There’s sense in these signings. They are on short contracts with options to extend. That means they will be hungry and we won’t get stuck with deadwood.

As a master tactician, I believe Benitez is backing himself to beat more able teams tactically if he has the right pieces to move around the board. More power to him, I look forward to watching it unfold.

Gray looks like a shrewd signing to me. He may not set the world alight (but he might set a few fires going given the chance) and indeed all three so far make perfect sense.

The way I see it, we've splashed the cash far too quickly recently. Perhaps it's the right time to learn some lessons and my guess is we have a manager who's a careful tactician. In reality, we've had far too many underperformers sat on the books and at last their numbers are dwindling.

We have a new manager who hasn't seen our players play for him in earnest yet. We have a few key players whose future, and commitment, is questionable at present (Richarlison, James, Kean) and one "unnamed" player whose future is also questionable.

So just where should we spend big with these unknowns? Of course I want us to win everything next season. It's probably not gonna happen! So (unfortunately) we may have to accept the next few months is going to have to be a settling phase while we see who stays, what we really need, and go hell for leather in the next window.

And, dare I say it, actually give some of our home-grown talent a bit of a chance too? Personally I'm a fan of Tom Davies – perhaps he's not always the most exciting player but he's becoming a reliable grafter who is improving all the time.

That's my starter for ten!

We sensibly started by addressing our leaky defence. A few better, solid, central defenders and a central ball winning midfielder.

But to win game's we need to improve our creativity and goalscoring.

Major weakness is a lack of pace, movement and creativity.

Bringing in a few wingers is long overdue. Also bringing in two adds to the competition for places.

Another good, sensible signing.

Anyway don't reckon Graeme Sharp had great statistics or was top of opta but one of the great strikers up there with the greats are Club has ever had.

I think we will have our ups and downs as usual, but it could be worse, lets enjoy what we have, we are a lot better off than the majority of supporters in the Prem.

Key bit, on loan!

In terms of natural goalscoring ability they are far above what we have.