Everton linked with targets in Portugal

When we sell Richarlison, offer them £30M, Gomes, Virginia and a bag of onion rings.

So having spent £20M on an international left-back and £20M on an international right-back – we want another one at £20M?

Back up for Vitaliy???

Can't see anybody coming to us with a price tag of €60M. Pesos maybe.

If Everton looked at one of these players last year under Benitez why are we looking again? Just the one scout in Portugal or is the new DoF reading the same report. And another full back having just let one reserve leave for Germany.

Mind you, the weather is a bit warm in Portugal this time of year and these negotiations could take two weeks as they seem to have taken almost a year already.

These rumours are both lazy nonsense.

Alan. Shame if no legs in the Nunes link as he looks impressive on YouTube (not in a Niasse way). He turns and carries the ball forward quickly. A bit like Doucoure does… once a month.

If we spend £50M on a player we can't even offer European football to, we've learnt nothing.

For any loon still defending the disaster that was Benitez, Nunes looks like a done deal for Wolves at £45M… a guy we not only could have got last year for £20M, but would have been exactly what we needed (able to take the ball off the defence, turn in tight spaces, and move it forward quickly).

Bill had his Kings Dock and Destination Kirkby disasters, Moshiri nearly killed us with a fat arrogant dinosaur of a manager……

Trashy newspaper rumors. Rife at this time.

Agent talk, to force a move through. I bet we are nowhere near these.

The notion we had anything like £20M to spend last summer is nonsense.

John #11 - we spent a net £8M in January on the fullbacks, plus £0.5M loan fees + a £10M to £40M commitment to buy Alli + £5M+ on wages on Alli and Van de Beek alone…

Sure, his club would have had to take a layaway, but the idea we couldn't have stretched to the £20M at the time is the nonsense.

Popular commentary is that Brands wanted him, and Rafa did his chest-banging power grab thing, saying he didn't think he was good enough.

I'd disagree with that, Gary. Why did we appoint the most divisive manager in our lifetime and only give him around £1.7 million, if there was actually money available to spend?

Benitez himself said he was promised money but, after arriving at the club, he then found out that this would only be possible if he could sell a few players first. But he found this impossible, possibly because of the contracts, many of them had been given by Brands.

Brands rarely spoke, but I remember seeing him in Manchester last summer, and told him he shouldn't be shopping, but should be looking for new players instead, and he gave a little shrug, and said he didn't think we would be signing many players.

We won't buy Nunes, but we need to get the midfield purchase right this summer; for the first time in a long while.

Here's a good piece comparing some of the Championship options:

Finding the Best Championship Centre Midfielder Purely From Data

Yates at Forest, Fuchs at Peterborough, Rothwell at Blackburn, O'Brien at Huddersfield and Sheaf at Coventry all look like decent options. O'Brien possibly my pick though defensively Fuchs looks quite impressive.

A Fuchs + Ake partnership would be quite fitting, Sam.

Surely we have learnt a few lessons about paying over the odds for average players.

It's now time to put everything into getting our academy and scouting in order so we can bring in young hungry players that can be developed and brought through the ranks into the first team.

Everything is not just about a quick fix and, just because a player looks good on YouTube or stands out in a poor league, that doesn't mean he will suit the Premier League.

For every player moving from one league to another or from one team's style of play to another, it's a big gamble, as proven by Lukaku, Pogba, Sancho, Pepe etc.

Robert, sounds about right! Ha!

John #16

I totally agree with your last comment.

We struggled last season as soon as we lost Calvert-Lewin, and then decided to play Rondon, who was a complete disaster. Yet we loaned out a young exciting player like Ellis Simms, who went down a storm in Scotland.

Now I understand the quality is not the same up there, but finding a player who can put the ball in the net is the same, and something we never had.

I'm sure I've read that Spurs have signed the kid from Brighton for £25 million, (Bissouma) and, if this is true, then this looks like a very good signing at that price. Maybe they'll pay double that to get Richarlison, or maybe Chelsea will come in and gazump them near the end of the transfer window?

All speculation, I'd take Billy Gilmour and another midfielder who can both carry and pass the ball forward. But, if Richarlison does leave, then surely Everton will have to sign another centre-forward, because who else can play up front if Calvert-Lewin gets injured again?

I don't think we'll be paying out any transfer fees until some players have left and maybe even until the takeover is resolved.

I expect we'll have 4 or 5 new signings, including Tarkowski, once the window closes – across midfield, wide and forward positions.

It might take a while though.

Neil #18.

Ellis Simms scored 5 in 17 for Hearts in the League and 2 in 4 in the Cup. It was good development for him but I wouldn't call it "going down a storm".

It would appear that Wolves like these as well, crack on...

I like the Zinchenko rumours. Thought he was great in the midfield role, in the recent internationals. Left footed too.

I like Zinchenko. Though he's more of a No 8 than a No 6, and as such would be competing with Doucouré, Iwobi and possibly Davies and Allan.

We need a No 6 first and foremost.

Who?...we simply do not learn do we,said it before but look first at players that went down or failed to go up in the Championship first and foremost...young, hungry players that have a point to prove!

Agree Matthew

I see Newcastle, Leeds, Wolves and Leicester are looking at Burnley's 21-year-old Nathan Collins. Scored against us and got a cracker for Ireland v Ukraine.

Before anybody jumps in and attacks me about relegated teams or looking for higher players, I say "Get real". We are no longer an attractive club and anybody coming to us next season is taking a risk.

We need to build a new team of young, hungry, skilful and aggressive players who can be moulded into a team that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The old model of paying for and throwing money at players has been proven to be a dismal failure.

NSNO

I'd be happy with Zinchenko, agree Sam he is more of an 8 for Ukraine, he was excellent in that role vs Scotland and ran the show. Why not make it a triple Ukrainian sweep and get Tsygankov to replace Richy? Surely we could prise him away?

I really can't call what is going to happen, I think the Richy deal with be telling as in a) who we deal with and b) who might be coming in the opposite direction. Definitely do not want Moura or Winks from Spurs, Moura I rate but 30 years old. I like Potter from Hull, gonna be a player that boy. Could Frank get a tune out of Gilmour? I think so but we would have to move on one of Allan or Gbamin, no easy task. Speaking of Gbamin, I do hope they put him through his paces pre-season to see if he is up to it after his impressive loan. Like a new signing! Yawn.

Richy's replacement is likely to disappoint many, the whole point for FFP is to sell high and buy low of course (this is Everton so we will probably screw that up) so I expect Dennis or McNeil coming in. I like the Burnley lad but his stats last season were poor. I could really see him stepping up though in a better team (?) and delivering some pin point crosses for DCL. If we could ship Richy for £60M plus and get McNeil for £20M and Zinchenko for £20M that's good business sense.

Agree Neil, I don't see anything wrong with buying high-performing players from relegated teams, the attitude has to be right of course.

Steve @ 27, I'm not sure what the situation is with signing players from Ukraine now - or indeed whether some of these players have been drafted up to fight.

Tsygankov is absolutely the sort of player we need - left footed right winger with lots of end product / goals. Only a year left on his contract too.

But complex, I expect.

Richarlison will still be an Everton player next season.

Calvert-Lewin won't.

I really hope we do sell Richarlison, only for the reason that we don't want a Pogba situation, where we end up letting his contract run down and selling him for peanuts, or worse still – for nothing.

We desperately need cash to rebuild, but Lampard is a manager, not a magician, and we need at least 5 or so players to improve the team