Gbamin not looking to return to Everton

I guess the real reason is more financially driven.

Isn't that our decision Mr Agent?

Don't let the door smack you on the arse on the way out, pal.

If he doesn't want to stay, see if we can get a fee for him this summer.

If as his agent stated he goes to Russia, I doubt we will see a penny. Maybe that's part of the agent's thinking? Either way whether due to bad luck or just not being very good he has to go down as a disastrous signing.

Make him return and don't play him but have him carrying the kit for the under 21,s at Bolton on a wet Monday night. Please when this conman goes don't wish him well, because he obviously doesn't wish us the same.

In fairness, Gbamin hasn't said anything. The quote is from his agent and may well be a matter of the club having made it clear that he has no future here.

A succession of managers have overlooked him and tried to offload him for years. Personally, I thought he was rubbish pre-injury but that's different that accusing him of refusing to play.

If we had the money to replace, I would only be keeping Pickford, Tarkowski, Patterson, Garner and McNeil from the first-team squad.

Otherwise, we decide where he plays next season.

When Moshiri goes, perhaps we can get back to employing footballers.

We should tell him he is an integral part of our team next year but, if he doesn't want to stay, he will have to find himself a club willing to pay or buyout his contract!

May only be paper talk, but the names being touted are generally unheard of foreign managers without experience of the Premier League. Part of me says "Ignore it, it's tosh" but part of me thinks "This is modern Everton laughing stock determined to implode".

Reports from L'Equipe that supposedly Everton approached Patrick Viera about replacing Dyche only a few weeks into Dyche's tenure. Sounds far fetched to me, but then again, would anything surprise you?

Likelihood is, if he started next season with a squad of similar levels to previous Burnley squads, we would end up as a team like – Burnley.

Kieran, the fact that such rumours even exist or cannot be decisively dismissed out of hand is testament to the modern lunacy.

No one had heard of De Zerbi and look at the job he's done.

But knowing us we'd get Christian Gross's younger brother.

Hopefully in the next few weeks we hear something similar from Gomes' agent and get his (approximate) 6 million off the books too.

For Gbamin in particular, it's sad because he really did have the makings of an excellent player – and his situation is just terrible bad luck.

Doucouré maybe? Gana Gueye can definitely get about, Ben Godfrey maybe? I honestly can't think of many real athletes that we have had in the last 10 years, and because football has definitely become such a running game, I think this has been one of our biggest problems.

We can't play a high line because our central defenders haven't quite got the pace, and I think it's been this way since we never kept Kurt Zouma. We all love skill but unless you're also a proper athlete, then you just aren't going to go far in the modern game, and this has been one of our biggest problems for a very long time, imo, Barry.

For those who say get rid of Calvert-Lewin etc, the only club who have form for high-risk, fingers-crossed signings are Everton. Unlucky and inept is the combination that has us where we are now.

The accountant and the player – the man who just kept on giving without thought, or a care in the world – whilst his ego was getting massaged by the actor.

If I can just expound my thoughts a bit I'm getting at our penchant for buying players who struggle with footballing basics predominantly they're all about strength and/or pace. In addition to the players you mention I would add Moise Kean, Bolasie, Theo Walcott, Lookman, DCL, Onyekuru, Delph.

In retrospect I should of said we just buy flawed footballers as a matter of course. Thinking of the impact of Klassen, Snides, Gomez, Keane, Tosun, Williams, Ramirez, Martina, Iwobi, Rooney sends a shiver down the spine

I think you mistake pace for athleticism. Mane had pace, Messi had pace, Gundogan has pace, Iniesta had pace, Aguero had pace. None of them (and a laundry list of others) you’d look at and think “not fighting that guy”. Most of Brighton squad 5 1/2 foot ish too.

Look at United tonight - Casimero and Eriksson dominant in a 2. Neither of which I’d call “athletes”. Indeed, I think it’s this misconception that is our undoing. Others too. Traore is an athlete. Utterly underperforming as a result of those muscles imho.

Give me Garners, McNeild, Grays, Osmans, Artetas, Baineseys, Ball; Harvey, Reidy, Inchy, any day of the week. We need BALLERs not line backs. Whatever divisions we’re in, I hope we remember this. School of science!

PS yes, I’d like a Haaland too. Utter freak. But not many other “athletes” outdo the ballers.

Gary B reckons being 6 foot makes you some athletic freak that we’ve targeted for physical presence and includes Gomes and Mykolenko! Do you not know anyone under 25 Gary? Average height has been climbing rapidly as the next generation has grown up. Gomes isn’t either especially tall or athletic and Mykolenko is extremely slender.

Onana is still a kid and Tarkowski should be over 6 ft simply because he’s a centre back.

Adama Traore is not a ‘’typical’ athlete, he is very specifically a short distance sprinter. I presume he is just making the most of his natural assets but he is not the epitome of the athletic type you’d be looking for in most footballers.

Usain Bolt shows the old, gangly beanpole stereotype should be consigned to history. If you are not around 6’2” / 6’’3” and properly mobile you are going to have to have some other exceptional abilities to be able to hold own as a midfielder in a helter-skelter EPL.

We've kicked this around a couple times already, but what the hell, in for a penny…

On the positive side, since Gbamin went out on loan 18 months ago, he's been playing and healthy; Russia and Turkey. He's missed games, but just from the bumps and bruises any player might get.

Andre Gomes is wrapping up 7 seasons of Barca / Premier League wages. Single, no kids. Unless he's been pissing money up a rope, he should be sitting pretty well financially.

I could see him go back home to Portugal to one of their top clubs. He's still the same, slow-motion but a terrific footballer.

The £6 million he's owed shouldn't be that much of a barrier to getting a deal cut if Andre is looking for a 3-year contract.

With Dele, someone needs to tell me. I have no idea or suggestion. We're not going to play him to prevent whatever the "minutes or games played" trigger is that'll force Moshiri to pay Spurs a sizable lump of cash.

Spurs, us, or Besiktas, Dele certainly has done the absolute minimum contractual requirement of showing up to practice and games in order to get his wages.

He's not going to change. So, we're going to have to just pay him another season? Is it possible there's another sucker to take him off our hands, even on loan?

And keeping Branthwaite. £325k per week invested in our centre-backs for each of the next 2 years. Long as he's been around, Holgate is still just 26. Would another club take at his current wage? Hell, would he agree to leave?

This based on us winning Sunday. If the worst befalls, God knows.

It won't be boring.

Probably only Gilmour, Enciso and Lamptey decently below 5 foot 8 inches and plenty over 5 foot 11 inches if you believe their official measurements.

We’ve really struggled to bed in good central midfielders over the last few years and having Gbamin, Alli and Gomes on the books this summer is testament to that. Almost £300k a week in wages right there.

Gomes had a good loan at Lille and may hopefully get offers. Alli would be best of trying to rebuild at a good championship club (if he has any desire left in him) and Gbamin will probably head on loan back to Russia or Turkey.

We will lose around £45m in transfer fees on these players.

Meanwhile Brighton bought Macallister, Caciedo and Gross for a combined £14m and their wages are less than half our trio. They will probably sell Caciedo and Macallister for a combined profit of around £100m.

Our refusal to buy any players straight from South America over the last 8 years (was Funes Mori the last one?) is quite strange.

Manchester City are not a big athletic team, Brighton (with 1-2 exceptions) are not a big athletic team. United are not a big athletic team (how big is their cracking cb Martinez btw?). Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, the list is endless for teams I'd class as not being particularly “Essien specimin like”.

There are exceptions. I think Newcastle's success has been built on athleticism this year, and the dark side certainly had “high-octane” success for several years. Brentford also a good example of “athletes”. Most teams will have 1-2 “monsters” too, so the likely truth is a bit of a blend is needed.

I also think the point made about centre-backss needing real pace is true too. But ‘react and burst pace' over 20 yards is very different to 100m in under 10. Your man Bolt demonstrated it well when he tried his hand at the beautiful game. He was crap.

Ultimately for me, we've failed to buy people who keep and pass the ball. Maybe it's because we focus on physical attributes like you want us to, maybe it's not. For me, the ability to play football should be first on the list. Our possession stats are one of the worst in league.

Maybe if address that, we'll need less of your athletes to go chase it all the time.

The saddest thing is not knowing whether he was a Premier League quality midfielder, he has all the potential to be one at Mainz, but we were denied any meaningful insight whether he would have been a success.

Ironically, he was brought in for £25m nearly four years ago to replace Gana Gueye who went to PSG. Four years on, and who is it that has eventually replaced Gana ?

I agree with you Sam though, the recruitment net needs to be focussed on the South American continent for value for money.

We posted at the same time Tony, saying something similar. I am inclined to feel its a curse bud!

Of course we want players to have technical ability but you also need them to be able to physically compete, especially in the melee of the highly contested midfield areas. There isn’t a cut-off for technical ability over six foot just as there isn’t a cut-off for athleticism below it.

Bolt wasn’t an example of a footballer, he was an example of the way that the real shift to a taller average height means more of the exceptionally tall will lack the unco-ordination that previously went with that body type. That means more in the 6’2” / 6’3” range will be true athletic all-rounders.

I agree with Tony. For some reason we always seem to fail to get the ‘real athletic players’, especially those who need to be box-to-box operators.

Sounds simple? So why have we spent 7 years farting around with players who play one good game in five, where people go on about that great thing they did a few months ago?

Dyche picks Doucouré and Onana because they have a strong physical presence that, at the very least, gets in the way of opponents. Imagine if we had two players like that who could pass, shoot and score?

I sometimes wonder what our recruitment team actually look for in a player.

I think that says everything we need to know!

Cahill didn't provide enough creativity from the No 10 position and Arteta didn't turn up against the Big Boys!

What we'd give for those players now.

I loved all of those players and the spirit in that team.

Really unfortunate with injuries and we'll never know if he would have made a difference, another one to write off. I thought his contract was up this season, shame we've got to pay for another year.

Interesting thought process that, off all the leagues in the world, the agent is looking at returning him to, erm Russia?

Maybe they could Photoshop a picture of Kenwright with a "The End is nigh" placard?

Instead, we have retained players who are not good enough or brought players back who have not improved whilst out on loan.

Townsend was a decent player before he got injured and I doubt he will be a regular now, even when fit.

Gray has to start on Sunday – if only to use some speed to unsettle Bournemouth's rearguard.

We know all too well what the worst-case scenario will be on Sunday if Leicester win so we cannot even think about not winning.

West Ham may have their minds elsewhere and with nothing to play for may just field a weakened team.

I am sure Dyche will have everyone psyched up for this game but even the best-laid plans go awry as all the nerves will be with Everton unless they can start the game well.

Your infidelity is duly noted.

Imagine! Doing feck all for a few years and your employers giving you a few million. You could weep. What a twat!

Yes, Martinez rushed him in without match fitness and probably contributed to the initial injury but how is it the physio's fault that he tore his Achilles pissing about playing keepy-uppy tennis?

Both agent and player didn't mind pocketing the wages for doing fuck-all, so why not just keep their traps shut?

It's similar to saying "that's sick" when referring to something that's really good.

More halfwitted use of our once great language.

On a par with "Can I get" when ordering in a cafe or restaurant.

I asked Barry, which players I thought we had signed with athleticism, because I couldn’t think of many, and I think I could have easily asked him the same question, and changed athleticism for pace.

When Barry elaborated @37, he made a lot more sense, imo Gary, because even the ballers have to possess outstanding athleticism or pace nowadays, otherwise they will never be anything more than above average footballers, playing in a sport that seems to be getting faster every year?

I hadn’t read Si’s post@40 when I posted this!

By ignoring the question of whether or not a player is good enough or not fit enough, the personal preference of the next manager is always the trump card no matter how good or great you are or have been.

A string of managers dismissed any potential he had because of the situation we were in, his injury and their own personal preference.

James Rodriguez is a case in point, a few days ago it came out that on the very first day when Benitez came to the club he was told to "Go away, your too old, find yourself another club.." he hadn't even kicked a ball..

One man's meat is another man's poison, a gift or a curse, percentage blandness or individual brilliance. The route you take depends on who makes the call and let's face it, we arent blameless in that department.

I think Billy Kenny, George Green, Royston Drenthe and Brazilian Jo are the only players, owners, chairman, managers, coaches, agents involved in Everton within the last 40 years who took any accountability for their own failings. Even Van Der Meyde while admitting he was drunk, partying every night still somehow takes shots at the club and blaming us for the fact he was too unfit to play football. Everyone else blames someone else be it Rafa, Danny Donachie, Moyes, Brands, Mina Raiola, Paul Gregg, Keith Wyness, Birch, Mike Walker, Liverpool gangsters, etc etc

was that Iwobi comment clarified somewhere or have you assumed that, correct as it may be?

"Can I get" is an American import.

Nobody is really talking about sheer bloody minded professionalism, when they talk about Dyche, but I think this is something that he wants to instill into Everton, and this is as good as any tactics anyone else might be able to offer, imo, with regards to the direction I want our football club to take.