Everton eye another budget signing in Longstaff

I wouldn't be opposed to this as long as he was on reasonable wages.
I think he could develop and be worth a few quid in the future

Could Longstaff be as ok good as that Portuguese lad Nunes deal?

Don't really rate him being honest. Never really stood out but in a poor newcastle team. If we really can't spend i'd rather not buy anyone aim for a stable season then hopefully next year have more scope to buy better quality.

Just seen on the Echo live page that Liverpool have again had to delay the kick off with tonights game with Osasuna, the system of using an app on your phone to gain access is again playing up. The same problems occurred with their game with Athletico Bilbao, with a delay of over half an hour.

I guess our new system of an app instead of the normal season ticket to allow entry will be something similar, and unlike Liverpool we will not have a trial run of the system. So if such a glitch occurs to us on Saturday we may end up with people still trying to get into the stadium 30 minutes after kick off. Also we may be asked to show a negative test or to show we have been double jabbed.

Brian, because there might be phone signal problems around the ground, EFC are advising you download vaccination confirmation to Apple Wallet.

Forget about bringing written evidence in a forked-stick.

Longstaff scored a cracking goal against Man Utd.

But that was Matty, not Sean. Can't remember much about this Sean lad but he has played more games than Matty, which may mean something.

Who next Carlton Palmer? Is Benitez still managing Rs? Why would we want another bang average midfielder? Are they going to be collectors items in years to come? If so we would have to worry about FFP rules.

Neil, they both sound like cigarette brands don't they?

I'll have a 20 Carlton Palmer's, oh and 20 Longstaff menthol for the wife please.

Benitez must have been impressed with the lad but is he really good enough ? Maybe just another dodgy rumour from a desperate agent. They've just signed Willock so Longstaff angling for a move?

These signings are beginning to make me laugh now they are becoming so ridiculous. WTF is going on...seriously!!

Brian (4) Interesting to learn of the problems at Anfield. Unlike our club the RS have made digital tickets mandatory. The majority of our supporters, at least those I have spoken to, have opted to pay the extra £5 for a season card. So that should reduce the risk for us on Saturday.

Rafa will know the player's capabilities and if it's possible to arrange some sort of swap deal. this may not be such bad business. Of more interest to me, however, is that PSG are having a fire sale and are desperate to offload up to six players, including Idrissa Gana Gueye. He may be 2 years older now , but if a deal could be done I'd have him back in a heartbeat. We looked twice the team with him in it, and I believe he is more effective than both Allan and Doucoure in that holding midfield role.

How low can we go?

Feels like there is no bottom at the moment...

Jonjo Shelvey is an absolute cert..

Moshiri must be turning out his pockets

I want to cry.

Remember Mosh being enthralled by the Benitez encyclopaedic knowledge of players (database of thousands wasn't it?). Seems it has come down to some fella he managed at Newcastle. Well in, Mosh

Jonjo Shelvey gets into the Newcastle team ahead of this lad?! That's a pretty sad indictment. Tbh, he looks pretty good on YouTube but some people also said that when we signed Oumar Niasse.

Seems some are getting a bit upset over a rumour!!

Just imagine James and Longstaff in the same team.

Longstaff? Isn't he in one of Shakespeare's plays?

Such a vulgar surname. Can't we keep it clean?

One of the longstaff brothers looked ok but I forget which.

Pretty mobile and hard working and I suppose we just have to trust Rafas judgement. Arrgghhhhh!

Is win win for him. We do well, the blue half is happy. If he doesn't, the reds lap it up. Big salary, local so he doesn't have to relocate or travel, average team with pretty low expectations.

He's landed on his bloody feet has this lad. If his luck rubs off on us, everything will be OK.

Ps I'm not so confident of the so called 'easy start'.

I get the Gray and Townsend signings because we need actual pace and them replacing Bernard makes sense. Longstaff will not improve us and I'd rather we'd kept Beni Baningime than look to him.
I can't help but feel we're gonna be in real trouble this season.

Which Longstaff was it who scored against us when Newcastle made the un-makeable comeback a couple of seasons ago?

@Bob 24

If you are thinking of the 2-2 at Goodison when they scored 2 goals in injury time (2 in 1 min I think it was) then it was the defender Lejeune who got both those goals, not the longstaff boys

Colin @ 20 wasn't that Longshanks ? Anyway, one of the Longstaffs scored a worldy against Man U or somebody so on the strength of that we'll probably sign the other one. Or it could be BOGOF.

If we get a right back and more lively forward / wide options then our existing midfield options may very well make a better fist of it.

Midfield is the area where we're already overstocked with numbers. And we have numbers coming through the academy too - Onyango, Price, Warrington etc. It would be a shame to block their path with yet another ordinary player.

A Longstaff type wouldn't have changed the results of the awful Fulham, Sheff Utd, Ncl home games last season. More dynamic flanks and attackers would.

WhatI can't understand is that the owner has ambitions for a new stadium and top four European qualifying, and yet his advisors are bringing in sub standard players to achieve that ambition.

It even looks like just having enough players to put on the pitch.

We have 21 days to sell and rebuild our midfield, or else in my view we will be 10th and lower in the league. Benitez is a manager…..not a magician.

Brent @ 5, my phone is incompatible with the NHS App so i've decided to bring a scroll of parchment which ( if required ) I will read to the good fellows on the gate . The club have stated they will not request proof of vax from everybody but will do random checks.

I'd prefer we sign no one for the next 12 months, and just hope this low scoring overpaid dross keeps us above the trap door. Then when contracts are near ending, make a move for the quality the do need. More low quality stopgap s is not the answer.

Where did it all go so horribly wrong that Leicester City have left us for dust.

If Longstaff comes Tom Davies could be part of the deal, and doubt it will make much difference to Everton's midfield, in fact it's possible we could be worse off.

It would seem that despite Benitez's 3000 player database he can't really think beyond players who have already played for him or PL failures or journeyman. It says everything about Benitez's renowned negativity that he can't or won't find a place for player like James whilst pursing a player such as Longstaff. I noted Lyndon penned an article called The Luxury about James which should really be called The Necessity because without him (or the player who cannot be named) we aren't going to be making many chances apart from the odd Digne cross to DCL.

A move for Rondon will be next, FFS. I posted earlier that I would be pleased and surprised if we finished in the top half the more I think about I will be surprised if we aren't involved in a relegation scrap. You don't need world beaters in your team to produce high energy entertaining football, just good coaching and a positive attitude from the manager, Leeds under Bielsa are testament to that.

So far we have hired the ex Newcastle manager and the ex Newcastle assistant manager, we have also appointed the ex Newcastle sports science guy and we have signed an ex Newcastle player in Townsend. It is now rumoured that we may sign another Newcastle player hardly seems the path to be going down if we want to improve things.

Like the Nunes transfer, this hasn't happened yet and let's hope it doesn't, I'd prefer our own dross rather than somebody else's, or give one of the kids a chance. All rather depressing.

Ed (32) You don't need world beaters but you do need players who can run and keep running, fast. Our squad has too many who can't get around the pitch.

We have squad Frankenstein has built, well in our case 4 or 5 numpty mangers. The more I watch the more it appears obvious that there are no leaders, no roots and no pride in playing for Everton. Simply put its a bad blend of styles, work ethic and by the looks of it personalities.

The trouble is the money spent on putting the squad together should in theory, raise supporters expectations - but sadly we are no further forward in any manner and instead become the laughing stock of the league.

The bubble butst before it was even a bubble and now exceptions have to be lowered, hence the kind of crap signing we have seen so far!

You'd get a work rate from Longstaff to be fair, most Geordie signings we have made have been success stories, Hutchison, Steve Watson crackin player in my opinion, Beardsley ect.

It's pretty obvious that we can't spend money.

It frustrated me however that one again we have no striking option available hardly yet again for Saturday.

When Sean Longstaff broke into the first team at Newcastle, Rafa Benitez was their manager. Instead of a third loan, Benitez decided to promote the 20-year-old to the first-team squad.

Later in the season, his impressive form was being tentatively linked with Manchester United, with Newcastle supposedly scaring them off with a £50M price tag.

Then Longstaff picked up a knee ligament injury, Benitez left at the end of the season, Bruce took over, and he's struggled slightly to assert himself like he did when he first broke into the Newcastle first team under Rafa.

He's 23, knows the league, is a very calm presence on the ball with a good passing range, combative, good reader of the game, and I think he has huge potential. I reckon he displays the same sort of languid style as Michael Carrick.

His contract expires at the end of the season, and I think he'd be a very astute acquisition.

My mate plays cricket with him (he's a good seam up bowler). He was asking him tonight about the rumours but he wouldn't be drawn on them. Obviously!

The arrival of Joe Willock probably puts him down the pecking order. Bruce seems to prefer Hayden over Longstaff. I'd say he has a better passing range than Hayden, but doesn't shield the back 4 as well as he does. He certainly puts in a shift.

Andrew #25 Thanks for the correction. But I'm thinking one of the Longstaff's was heavily involved and was quite a presence in the area at the time. Seemed to put in a shift as per Michael Burke's comment #39.