Baningime makes Hearts move

We are soft compared to other Clubs letting our decent players, who couldn't just quite make it, go for free or chicken feed. I don't suspect Hearts, who recently survived bankruptcy/liquidation will have a massive transfer kitty or war chest either.

Is he actually not good enough for us?

And as we trim out a few players and bring in some underwhelming (but potentially effective) signings, Man Utd bring in Varane hot on the heels of Sancho. These are rolls royce type players.

A few seasons ago Man Utd felt within reach. They are not now. Solskjaer is no great shakes as a manager but he's got an exceptional squad now - and has worked well with the club to rebuild more patiently than his predecessors.

How many upsets are there in a season, let alone the Cup Games to Lower Division teams ?

We’ll still get one or two good players in i’m fairly certain.

Good luck. As with all ex-Blues, I will be watching whenever I see the name to see what we've missed.

Also worth mentioning that Liverpool and Leicester do not have expensively assembled squads compared to us. They realise they can't compete with City, Chelsea and Man Utd so built squads through a very deliberate resale / sell on value model - spending a lot less than us net in the process (enabling Liverpool to spend about £50m or so more than us gross).

We bought average players at or around their peak and have barely made a penny from resale in the last few years, leaving us in decline with no money to reinvest in improvement. It's not just how much you spend, it's how you spend it.

As a central midfielder, (probably the most important position) he isn't likely to prove good enough for the first team in the next 12 months.

He's at the age we should sell for any thing we can get or give him away. We should always insert a repurchase price, sell on %, additional transfer fee should the purchasing team win, qualify, finish above 'x' etc.

I wish him well.

We need to improve in that area. If (and I'm not suggesting he is for many reasons) Gbamin is the answer to the defensive midfielder, we still need a better creative midfielder.

Colin #9, shone brightly? Maybe a dim, momentary glow that seems brighter in retrospect. He played exactly 192 minutes for us in the league. I've had days when I spent more time than that in the loo.

I love your use of the word loo, Mike. You are slowly but surely being civilised on TW😉

BTW, did you happen to catch the note about England's new U-21 coach? Our old friend Lee is gonna make those kids shave their heads.

Injury, fate, bad luck, but this could be his chance to show football what he can do.
I’ve a few good mates who follow Hearts, hopefully next time I’m working in Edinburgh I may get chance to see him playing.

Ibrahima Konaté - £36 million
Diogo Jota - £45m
Thiago Alcantara - £25m
Fabinho - £39 mil
Naby Keïta - £52 mil
Alisson - £56 mil
Mohamed Salah - £34 mil
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - £35 mil
Sadio Mane - £34 mil
Georginio Wijnaldum - £25 mil
Roberto Firmino - £29 mil
Dejan Lovren - £20 mil
Virgil van Dijk - £75 mil!

Missed a few other 20 million players out as well!

So I think it's fair to say it's no more expensively assembled than our team.

They play the transfers game like a commodities market. It allows them to reinvest significant sale proceeds in new players

The comparison with the shite and others of their ilk is meaningless they all have a platform based on decades of success allowing them access to top players at market value. We cannot attract such players regardless of what we offer the battle is to reach their initial platform before we can even think about competing at their level.

Chelsea and City went through exactly this process throwing money at it till they finally got there. Our problem is we don't have that money and consequently sign "names" just below that level in the hope they can turn water into wine.

Unfortunately the likes of Siggi, Snides, Delph, Kean etc are not the messiahs required

However the comparison is not meaningless. They have accepted they cannot compete with the spending of 3 other clubs and so follow a very deliberate moneyball strategy instead. They have spent less than us. There's no two ways about it. Klopp was specifically appointed to oversee it based on experience of a very similar strategy at Dortmund.

This strategy is not beyond us - it is absolutely something we can do.

For example, Leicester do likewise. They are not a bigger draw than Everton (possibly apart from this season such is their success). Maddison, Ndidi, Tielemans, Soyuncu, Castagne, Fofana, Evans, Praet and Pereira were all v much in our reach when bought by Leicester.

I think you could make a very good case to say we're the biggest mugs in world football over the past 5 years - spending more than £500m, dropping out of the competition for Europe and having nothing to reinvest through player sales into improving the squad. We are the 10th placed side in the Premier League assembled at the cost of Champions League giants.

Everton - like every other club - shop in every available market. Over the last few years we've brought in several young players that have shown their potential outside of the Premier League and command low transfer fees (e.g Holgate, Stones, DCL, Nkounkou, Lookman, Branthwaite, etc), a few young players that have shown their potential in top flight football and command bigger transfer fees (Vlasic, Onyekuru, Kean, etc), a few young players that have shown their potential at Premier League level and command a large fee (e.g Iwobi, Pickford, Keane, Godfrey, Richarlison), a few mid-career players who have impressed outside of the Premier League (Funes Mori, Gbamin, Bernard, Klaassen, Digne, Gomes, Mina, Tosun, Niasse, etc), and a few 25+ players who are expected to hit the ground running and could have immediate resale value if they catch fire (Walcott, Gray, Bolasie, Schneiderlin, Doucoure, etc). We've also brought in several 28+ players that are unlikely to have resale value but whose transfer fees were seen as necessary expenditure (Sigurdsson, Delph, Allan) or whose fees were negligible (Townsend, Begovic, James Rodriguez).

I'm sure it's a lot of fun to scour the internet for player reports and to watch highlights videos and games in order to try and compile a list of the next big things - anyone can do it now and lots of people are. But the notion that you think you have identified a better system of recruitment for this football club, even if it is as simplistic as "just do what Leicester do", well it completely disregards and disrespects the work that many people at this football club do in order to identify the right players to bring in, and that's before we even get into the horribly complicated world of negotiating with agents, players and other clubs. The fact is that we already do what Leicester do - they've just done it better than us for the last few years.

One final thing. In respect of the success that Liverpool have had under Klopp in terms of player recruitment, well one aspect of that success has to be attributed to his continued as Liverpool manager; since Klopp arrived in 2015 Everton are now onto their sixth different manager; that sort of continuity tends to breed a more consistent and measured approach to player identification and recruitment.

He should be a good player for Hearts and if he impresses he has a good chance of being picked up by one of the old firm.

The only downside is that it sounds like we've not only had to settle on his final year wages but also give a free transfer. Imagine if he was in the RS squad. They'd have probably picked up £10m from some sucker club

I hope he does well in Scotland and finds his form again.

Absolute joke, like the Everton coverage of pre-season matches, again Wednesday Night almost a repeat of Sunday's Laurel and Hardy Production, only not so well executed, and certainly no laughs.

So a bit like Bernard – free but expensive wages. I am sure they will have negotiated reduced wages for the rest of his contract with them.

But it means one less set of wages to pay.

I am not claiming to have discovered any particularly fancy strategy. These clubs and many others found a good strategy for themselves. All I'm doing is pointing it out.

And there's more than one good strategy. Moyes deployed a careful strategy here for years based on low cost, value and profile. This strategy brought in Howard, Neville, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Arteta, Cahill and others. There were some failures of course but the record was generally v good. He's now doing similar at WHU on a shoestring.

What I'm saying is that we've deployed a strategy that does not work. I'm sure that's fairly plain - and yes Andrew it's not helped by chopping and changing managers. Equally if we had a good strategy and a good fit coach to oversee it then we might not need to chop and change so much.

Andrew you've told me before that I'm like a nosy neighbour looking at someone else's flourishing Azaleas and trying desperately to copy them - but missing some of the variables you just can't copy.

Fair enough, but if someone next door (or competing in the same division) starts to flourish by making better use of resources - then isn't it worth paying attention as to how? You might not be able to copy everything but we just keep chucking (expensive) manure on our azaleas (and team) and wonder why it's getting us nowhere. To the point where we can't now afford our usual brand of manure!

Put it this way, no-one is going to copy our strategy.

Aside from last summer. For the first time in several years, I actually thought we done good business last summer.

I thought that, in this instance, Hearts have effectively taken over his contract by continuing to pay his wages but not paying a fee. Consequently, Everton are saving money by not paying his wages. Any fee we would have received would have been small anyway.

The points on transfer strategy are valid and reoccur, but on some level we have been trying the buy young ‘quality’ method too, Kean , Iwobi, we just seem too often fail to bring in the RIGHT young players when spending the big 30m money on them. These big 30m investments are meant to be the game changers, the signings that will elevate us if we get it right. It’s not all doom and gloom though as the signing of Ben Godfrey has been successful. At the time of buying the former two though there were probably half a dozen young players in Europe that we could have signed for 30m that would have greatly immediately improved our first team and increased in value.

This strategy weighting our transfer budget to buying quality young players is the only way forward , but it must be underpinned by the best quality scouting or everything becomes a waste of time. In short more Ben Godfreys please and less Alex Iwobis and we will be on the right track.

Brands has to also shoulder a lot of responsibility for what has gone on.

After finishing the season so strong Silva was hung out to dry without Zouma and Gueye.

Ancelotti was given Josh king in January!
What a missed opportunity that was.

Robert misc. I think your looking at our football recruitment and thinking that we are a shambles. In reality we will stay in the division which is the goal of the owner no more no less.

Moshiri is looking at the ground development and all it offers for him and usm. Once that is built we will be up for sale again.

Utft

Everton have had a various attempt a recruitment with six different Managers fulfilling their requirement which may have been right or wrong, but a big failing at Everton has been to mould and develop players. We are all very familar with resulting standards of performance and the lack of added value to the majority of p!ayers involved.

I will compile a comparison of Everton player's market value and fees paid. A initial look provides sobering reading.

Tony Everan; I'd counter that. I agree, we need to uncover potential such as Godfrey and Nkounkou, but I would argue its sensible to balance recruitment with experience and established players alongside.

More generally, I can't find the data on transfermarkt but there's a report from Jan 2021 which says Everton are 5th in Europe in net spend in the past 5 years behind only Inter, Barca, City and United.

Now that surely is staggering.

Even if (as is likely, Rob) Moshiri is just here to build a stadium, you'd still expect a better return on outlay than our 12th and 10th consecutive finishes.

There's a few other Prem clubs that have spent heavily without success, Villa, Fulham, Brighton and Sheff Utd - but these all got promoted and had to turn a championship squad into a prem quality squad in short order.

We started our 5 year spending spree with a decent, established premier league squad.

So I think it really would be very hard to find worse performance in recruitment than us across Europe in the past 5 years.

Villa have gone from £112m to £429m having been relegated in the interim

Leicester have gone from £125m to £549m

City have gone from £501m to £1bn

We have, I guess, persistently hovered around the 8th most valuable squad mark - we've just done it with a net spend that dwarfs that of Champions League giants.

We're not going to agree!

We can keep trading stats or flowerbed analogies but it might be dull for other contributors. By all means deliver your killer blow from here but I'll leave it at that.

Until next time Mr Keatley 👍

As it happens, your strategy of copying Leicester is old news; we tried it 5 years ago by hiring their chief scout Steve Walsh as our DOF - and depending on who you believe, he was either desperately unable to replicate Leicester’s extraordinary recruitment winning streak, or the club did not back him in some his “riskier” chosen targets (e.g Haaland, Maguire and Robertson). Those three are all complete no-brainers now, yet we hesitated for one reason or another - with the main problem being that there is no such thing as a dead cert in this game.

Your words: "Liverpool (and Leicester) do not have expensively assembled squads compared to us."

I call bullshit. Leicester, yes, the Shite, no fecking way, la.

Tielemans - £40 million
Fofana - £31.5 million
Perez - £30 million
Daka - £27 million
Iheanacho - £25 million
Maddison - £22.5 million
Pereira - £20 million
Soyuncu - £19 million
Soumare- £18 million
Castagne - £18 million
Praet - £17 million
Ndidi - £16 million
Mendy - £14 million
Benkovic - £13 million
Ghezzal - £12.5 million
Amartey - £6 million
Justin - £6 million
Evans - £3.5 million
Schmeichel - £1.5 million
Vardy - £1.1 million

Here is our current squad:
Sigurdsson - £44.5 million
Richarlison- £35.28 million
Iwobi - £27.36 million
Mina - £27.23 million
Keane - £25.65 million
Pickford - £25.65 million
Godfrey - £24.75 million
Kean - £24.75 million
Allan £22.5 million
Gomes - £22.5 million
Gbamin - £22.5 million
Tosun - £20.25 million
Doucoure - £19.89 million
Digne - £18.18 million
Delph - £8.55 million
Gray - £1.8 million
Calvert-Lewin - £1.62 million
Holgate - £1.26 million
Branthwaite - £1 million
Nkounkou - £0.243 million
Coleman - £0.06 million

So my mental arithmetic tells me we’ve spent roughly £25 million more. Which is about 6% more than Leicester have spent - which hopefully demonstrates that there is not a massive gulf in terms of expenditure.

We have been terrible in the market during the last half a decade or so and changing the manager every five minutes hasn't helped either. I sense a return to the make do and mend economics which beset the Moyes era, and Benitez will need all of his experience to steer the ship through some choppy waters that are ahead of Everton in the next few months.

What you haven't taken into consideration is, in the last 4 or 5 years, Everton player sales to offset their purchases have been virtually nothing (except for the sale of Gueye) whereas Leicester City have sold the following:

Chilwell – £45 million,
Maguire – £78 million,
Mahrez – £61 million,
Drinkwater – £34 million, and
Kante – £32 million

If my maths are correct, they have recouped £250 million.

The FFP rules are based on net spend which shows how well Leicester have been run and how poorly Everton have been run. Not only have they sold their best player year on year, they still won the Premier League and the FA Cup, as well as being able to compete with the Top 4.

I kinda knew of those Leicester sales, but when you put them together like that. It really does make you sit up. £250M for players who cost comparative buttons is incredible!

That wasn't the issue I was addressing; the point I was trying to counter was Robert's assertion that “Liverpool (and Leicester) do not have expensively assembled squads compared to us" – which I think is just factually incorrect.

But yes, in the last 5 years we have acquired various expensive players that have underperformed and decreased in value – while choosing to retain the players that have been increasing in value. We've also struggled to offload players, full stop.

So, since 2016, it's probably only been Stones, Lukaku, Gueye, and Tyias Browning that have seen us make considerable profit, which is probably a result of how underwhelming our on-pitch exploits have been.

I think what is even more amazing than the amount of money they have amassed in player sales, but the fact that it hasnt stopped them competing at the very top of the league. I read a fact a while back which said they have spent longer in the top 2 in the Premier League over the past 2 seasons than Man City, how scary is that?.

They have to be recognised as another club with whom we are now playing catch up. Seems only yesterday when Nigel Pearson was angrily shouting down reporters who were predicting certain relegation.

I never thought I would be jealous of Leicester City's achievements, but I am. Sometimes you just have to give credit where it is due. Their fans have had a far better time of it than we have in recent years and your numbers go a long way to explaining why.

I thought there wasn't much between the two sides at the end of Marco Silva's first season, except it seems that one club had a proper plan, whilst the other club was caught between two stools, and it's been all downhill for Everton since then imo.

Too many home truths to stomach on me night off.

Actually, just enjoy your night off.

By the way, hope you will be at the Bramley-Moore on 25 September.

Brian, you missed Lukaku and Stones – our largest profits on sales. Made a tidy profit on them and I'm sure we'll sell Calvert-Lewin and Holgate for good money also in the coming seasons. We've been generally rubbish though.

The 40 days and nights of a season in the blight and edging towards 40 years.

I hope this season Rafa can get a consistent tune out of his players. Fitness coaching will be as important as ever.

But as many have rightfully cited, Leicester are light years ahead of Everton in transfer

Hope eternal.

Palpably untrue stat. I don't even need to check it.

Or you could check it. I know that Leicester City spent more time in the Top 4 of the Premier League over the last two seasons than any other team, so Brian's claim sounds pretty plausible to me.

The transfers fees are bad enough but we also offer ridiculous contracts. Ordinarily a guy like Bolasie would be eager to get a new 2- or 3-year deal elsewhere before his contract expired.

But his wage at Everton was such that he earned in the last year what he might accumulate in 3 years anywhere else. So why risk leaving, possibly seeing a career ending injury cut that money supply short when you can survive on year unscathed at Everton and get the money in the bank.

When Lukaku left, it was an open secret that we'd be reinvesting that money straight away, on top of Moshiri letting it be known that he was ready to invest heavily in the squad to bridge the gap to challenge for the Top 4, so it was no surprise that other clubs managed to get us to pay top whack for their players, and agents made sure to negotiate great contracts for their clients. We were a fool with new money.

Getting contract terms right is another tough call; too short and you run the risk of a successful player choosing not to renegotiate and potentially running down their contract to move on at the first instance (either for free or a lesser fee based on the fear of eventually losing them for free) - or too long and you get a Bolasie scenario where you are paying one of the highest wages at the club to a player who has not worn a first team shirt for 3 years, and who nobody is interested in buying as nobody would even get close to offering a comparable salary for a player who is no longer considered to be worth that sort of weekly wage. It's a minefield.

I also read very rational disappointment from some of us in comparing us against Leicester City, a team who won zilch until the 21st century, becoming a team who've since only once won the Premier League, only once won the FA Cup, but did win in 2009 the 3rd Division (now called League Two) championship in fairness. A proud moment for them I'm sure, and it dwarfs our "achievements".

Disappointment and extreme anger is therefore 100% valid to me.

What on earth would our fortunes have been during the past 30 years, never mind 6, if our boardroom had ever had an ounce of the insight, decisiveness or courage that their owners, scouts, coaches and board have displayed in the past 6 years, appointing manager after manager as they have, whilst also maintaining a league and European profile way above ours?

Even my arl mate Dazza has agreed with me (in terms mate, not literally, unless you want to expound, again!) by pointing out the decades-long ineptitude of Billy Blue-Balls in our boardroom so, if two total Toffee lunatics can agree on that, might it just be that we have identified the problem?

And if we have identified it, why are so many of his personally appointed ex-player coaches still infesting the club with, as said, the latest potentially Academy big star moving on as a free to Hearts?

I'd like an accountant at the club to explain the money regarding Baningime, and so many more like him.

As if!

Moving onto our neighbours, they can get in excess of over £20 Million for Salanke ffs and others they manage to get a fee for.

Everton on the other hand, have players happy to run their contracts down, than take a wage drop elsewhere.

Another note on not being able to compete with the shite for players, we had the option to sign both Robertson and Virgil, years before the shite signed them, we decided against signing both.

We even had the Swedish scout begging Everton not to let Haaland slip through their fingers, we ignored his advice and did not take up the option to keep him, and sent him on his way.

Very poor management by Everton on transfer fees, wages, and above all else, a lack of fitness.

Hopefully now, Rafa will make them fitter, work harder and above all else, be an end to second rate players we brought in for big transfer fees.

More than happy with the three signings coming in, for very little transfer fees.

I don't know whether your post is a case for the prosecution or the defence but it's quite simple. Baningime, like all footballers, have a contract which the club must honour. That involves paying the player a wage. The player is almost 23 years old and evidently no closer to making the first team than he was five years ago.

Let's say the player earns £10k per week. Rather than pay that wage for the next 12 months to a player who ain't gonna contribute to the first team, a decision has been taken to let him switch club for either free or a nominal fee. That therefore saves half a million over the next 12 months. In turn, it also frees up a spot on the Under-23s for a younger prospect to get more game time and test themselves.

As I said, it's not that difficult to understand. But if it helps you sleep better at night to attribute it to the boogie man in your head (ex-players on the Academy staff), then knock yourself out.

You're right – it is worrying the poor management, lack of judgement etc... the last few years has been so poor. I even think Villa will now overtake us in the Top 6 to Top 10 places.

Good luck son.

Hearts under the cosh but Celtic horrendous defensively.

Have a wee look at those who have played in Scotland recently and have moved to the Premier League. They are actually not bad footballers.

I have a feeling that this was a monumental blunder by our club. Total conjecture, you will quite rightly think. But.. you know what, now and again we get transfers wrong. Actually I have a feeling that our dealings in the transfer market in the last 10 years have been as bad as anything in the history of football anywhere in the universe.

No-one is ever called to account. That is where Don Alexander and many others are spot-on. No business ever, anytime, ever, could get away with what has been got away with at our club. I honestly believe that – with a word in the right ear, the right connections, a handshake with blue Bill, and a few tears – I could get a living out of Everton FC.

Just before Moshiri, we had the likes of Lukaku, McCarthy, Deulofeu and Barry sign, which were still decent transfers and, I would argue, fitted with the so-called Leicester model. We just lacked the clout to get those final one or two to complete the team.

I hope the lad makes his mark and his career kicks on. Well done, Beni.

You seem to accept the fact that we pay young players a wage that is exorbitant, for five years, his end product to the club being zilch by any measure.

You also seem to applaud the financial savvy of getting rid of him for nowt after all those years to "free up" wage expenditure elsewhere.

I'm not an accountant but I cannot overlook the time and expense the club and his coaches have squandered on him for years, the square sum of their and his input having delivered sweet fuck-all for us.

And I don't give a shite whether he spends the rest of the season being MotM for Hearts of Midlothian, an accolade that to some of us now seems bizarrely laudable.

And lastly, if you're still wondering Jim, I think Finch Farm has been infested for years by inadequate ex-player coaches who've sucked up to a cheapskate chairman in order to get a very comfortable living whilst producing, as the pinnacle of their achievement, only Tom Davies as an occasional, perennially modest, first-team player.

I don't “accept” anything. You asked for an explanation. I gave you one, using a 10k wage as an example purely as it is a nice round number. If that were his wage – and I have no idea if it is – then it would not be exorbitant for a Premier League player.

Re your views on Finch Farm, I had no idea you saw it that way and have never seen you mention it before but it's a novel take on things. I'd be interested in hearing more – why don't you post an article?

On the matter of any benefit to Everton on this transfer, it could be that on the figures submitted 1 March as to year end's (30 June?) profit and loss that Everton might point to the reduction in wages as an indicator of steps being taken to reduce the losses; how many juniors, end-of-contract seniors and transfers out have lowered the wage bill, or just allowed the three in-comings.

As to whether our transfer business has been successful in the last 5 or 6 years, perhaps the question might be: Has it significantly improved our performance or league position? – albeit we have on-sold some for significant profit.

Tom Davies is the only young player to “establish himself “ in the first team squad in recent years. The rest are sold for buttons and are, in the main, so poor you never hear of them again.

Brands was supposed to change all this but it seems things are just as bad as ever.

I mentioned in my first post I didn't think Beni went for the money. The highest earner at Hearts last season was Steven Naismith. Even after taking a 50% cut, he was on about £4k a week. I think the average Hearts player's salary is about 2-3k a week. Probably similar to Hibs and Aberdeen/ Obviously Rangers and Celtic are a lot higher.

I think financially Beni would have got more £s at a Championship or good League One club in England. After so long at Everton, going up to Edinburgh was a bit of a surprise but good luck to the lad.

The first half passed him by last night but he improved vastly as Hearts defended even more in the second half. I'm sure. as he learns to pick up the pace of the Scottish game. he will do well and maybe open himself up to a more lucrative club.

We still have 3 recent graduates in our side who will play some part in this coming season.

I think that comment is a little unfair. Are other clubs doing much better?

I’d love to produce another Rooney or Bainsey (who we let go at a young age) but it’s not happening. Maybe Brands needs to replace them all with the Ajax academy staff. They seem to be able to spot and nurture talent.

That's why we're struggling with FFP - we're the problem here, not the rules.

Good luck to Beni, played well in the second half, got lots of praise up here. A good chance for him to progress his career. The Scottish Premier League is a relatively poor league, with some very good or promising players. Half-decent young players can restart their careers, savvy clubs will pick up relative bargains, like Brentford getting Ajer for £15M.

No matter what young players we produce and sell, we get a pittance compared to our neighbours. Look how much they got for Brewster, who has been a disaster!!

Everton have had no coherent strategy for building a team under Moshiri or Brands. What exactly is Brands doing? We have had 5 plans in his time there. Where are the shrewd signings and recruiting smart European players to develop?

A total mess

That's the problem with our managers – they play the promising youngsters for a game or two, normally pre-season, then they're either farmed out to lower division sides or sit on the bench watching our overpaid has-beens play instead, even when they are playing shit. That's why we have had only had one player, Tom Davies, who regularly plays or is on the bench, to come through our system in the last 5 years.

I will predict come the first Premier League game, there will be none of the players from the U23s in the first eleven, so once again, for another year, the senior players will know, even if they play shit, their positions are safe.

It's far from clear what goes on at Goodson, but while spending £45 million on Sigurdsson, £28 million on Iwobi, £22 million on Gbamin and £20million on Tosun, and £9 million on Delph, every one of whom has been garbage, giving Banigime, Nkounkou, Hornby and a raft of others a decent, sustained run-out with the first team would not have had worse outcomes and would have been much less expensive.