Everton eye Watford's Dennis following Richarlison sale

I like this player. Goals, assists, he's mobile and active. Worth a go. Are Watford becoming our feeder club?

C'mon Everton, announce Dennis as a new signing. Anything!

You seem to be very Keen on Dennis, Brian.

Where are we going to get £20M we can spend?

He was out with a knee injury at the end of the season so that needs to be examined. Perhaps Watford were partly just protecting a big asset.

I think he is definitely a player who should be on our shortlist, on the up and will be happy and motivated moving to a bigger club. Good stats too last season, comparable with Richarlison, that could improve further at Everton.

He may dovetail better with Calvert-Lewin than Richarlison too. I never thought that the two of them particularly worked well together as a team.

[I'm trying to make myself feel better after us losing him.]

Wouldn't it be rather lovely (in a Sergeant Wilson voice) if we had scouts who could pick up this sort of talent (if he is a talent) for £3.6 million...

Kinda cut out the middle man.

2 goals since Christmas and a poor average rating implies he's been found out.

Husband's initial burst was unpredictable, but a bit like Jelavic; clubs work out limited players.

£20m? No ta.

Is our recruitment department scouting only through Match Of The Day now?! One way of cutting costs I guess.

Dennis looked pretty good for half a season at Watford and can arguably play as a left winger or a striker which is useful. But he's been pretty mediocre before (and after) then, struggling in Germany and not close to setting the Belgian League alight. £20M feels a lot for someone who's failed more than he's succeeded but maybe he's a late developer.

I would prefer someone like Gakpo, Sinisterra, De Keteleare or Noa Lang; though all may be more expensive.

If we could get Dennis for nearer £15M, it might be decent business but I worry at basing our business on only recent form.

No 4. Don't be absurd, Wilson (Mainwaring voice). We'd rather wait and pay £40 million.

Dennis could be of great goal scoring help but Everton must have goal scorers throughout the team and on the bench. I really don't want to see Coleman or Allan in the starting 11 next season – it sends out all the wrong signals.

Don't know if this has already been said but, he will also be an international teammate of Iwobi – so hopefully will already have a friend in the camp and someone he is used to playing with, if he comes, that is.

Meanwhile, we ought to be looking to spend our money hiring the guy who originally found him and signed him for £3.6 million – last year.

We desperately need some fast forward players who can score goals. Yes, we have Gray who seems a little inconsistent but, with Richarlison gone, now we have nothing to assist Calvert-Lewin as someone who can be a real thorn in the oppositions defence.

Unless that position can be filled adequately, we will have to rely on a much better defensive set-up than last season in order to secure more points.

I am sure Lampard is aware of this and will be working as best he can to improve the situation.

Lingard's expected wage demands may stymie any move to Everton and not being a regular at Man Utd last season has me concerned, even if he is on a free transfer.

This is a very important time for Frank Lampard to choose the right players at the right price for the forthcoming season. His first transfer business last January did not go too well, but he has to get it right this time with so much at stake.

Everton fans do not want to go through another season like last, with this season without Richarlison digging Everton out of the mess at the end of last season.

He's decent but £20M is a bit high and he is somewhat hot-headed on the pitch. I'm not sure we've got the locker room but maybe it was just a run of heated behavior from the dude.

It is being printed that we will be looking for loans in the form of Gallagher, Gilmour and Broja (good call Steve Shave according to the pundits). I'd take two of three and would be chuffed if all three were here this season, even if they are wearing that pisStake (credit: McDine, good line).

Oh yeah, Bellotti was also mentioned. Cooled off since he was a hot property but available after leaving Torino on an expired contract. He seemed physical enough to handle the Premier League in the few games I saw of him. Coming from Torino, I hope the wage demands are not prohibitive.

We surrendered 66 goals last season. 38 games. 8 clean sheets.

That's what needs to be addressed. A pacy yard dog or two in the midfield is what we need.

It was the 85th minute of the 37th game where we could genuinely feel we wouldn't go down. At that, we had to come back from a 2-goal deficit at home. We couldn't stop opponents from storming our goal.

"The other guy can't score, he can't beat us" needs to be the sole priority this window and next season.

A player who will get us an occasional goal is not next up in the hopper. Tightening up the midfield defense is.

"School of Science" will just have to wait.

Not for me at £20M, there's better value out there. I've sSeen plenty like him, most get sussed pretty quickly in this league and I suspect he would be the same. £5-£10M max.

We seem to have lost the capacity to unearth such players ourselves. Why can't we pick up players of this ilk before others do? Why are we seemingly limited to those who have developed elsewhere first?

Even when Brands was at the club, I couldn't understand why he never found the odd rough diamond in the Dutch leagues. We never seem to bring in young, foreign talent that do a job for us and improve with us. Why can other teams do this with ease, yet we never do?

Why can't this be us instead of Watford who signed Dennis for just £3.6M a year ago?

Encouraging piece here by a Watford fan:

Put some damn respect on Emmanuel Dennis's name

I still think Dennis shouldn't be costing much more than £15Mm after limited success but sounds like he has qualities in common with Richarlison.

While Brands confirmed what we already knew – that he was surrounded by ineptitude – he failed miserably to do his part of the rebuild. Almost as bad as Walsh.

That is encouraging, Sam. I for one thing there is good value in this transfer (as long as it's below £20M) and he would add goals. He would fit multiple systems too. I hope it happens.

Sam, it's a good, passionate article to read about Dennis, his play and background. We will definitely find out if he is progressive enough one way or another because if it's not us he will move to a competitor.

Back onto the DCM recruitment now Winks is out of the picture. Thelwell is keeping his cards close to his chest as it's difficult to ascertain who we are linked with for that position. The recent free agent Florian Grillitsch was one we were linked with so if we are really interested I'm sure we could compete with Fiorentina for his signature. He seems to have been in ‘advanced talks' with them for a month which tells me he is keeping his options open to a degree if a better deal comes along.

Now we have some funds though we could make an offer for someone like Sangare for £25M?

Grillitsch on a free for the DCM then go in big time for Conor Gallagher (£45M) and Zinchenko (£20M). Get Hudson-Odoi in on loan .

That's it, I've spent the Richarlison money, it only took me 5 minutes.

Wasn’t Ismaila Sarr their ‘one to watch’ a short while back? What’s happening with him? No longer fancied or out of our reach?

Brian, 20, very true. He brought in Mina, Delph and Gomes, all disasters.

Good day guys, @Tony #5, I think Emmanuel Dennis is okay, he equally scored a goal for Nigeria a few weeks ago against Sao Tome & Principe.

But the £20M is too much and he's somehow selfish with the ball. However, he's a fantastic baller.

Tony @22, as you know I've been a fan of Sangare for a long time. And Grillitsch would seem a no-brainer given our preference for free transfers.

I like Gallagher a lot but I'm not sure I'd be happy spending £45M on him. He did well last season though, apart from the goals he managed to get, the rest of his stats make for okay but not excellent reading. And he was decent but not outstanding for West Brom the year before.

There's a tendency for young English players to be massively overhyped in the Premier League and, though I'd be very happy to have him, I also think we need to look for decent value where possible.

Someone like Zurkowski at Empoli is a similar high-energy midfielder who covers ground and gets some goals. He'd probably cost around £10-15M and do a similar job. For too long, we've bought Premier League players at premium prices with only a few proving wise investments. We need to start getting good players before the hype.

James Flynn #15 I agree entirely. Defensively we were a shambles in most games and not the biggest threat on attack.

I stopped watching the games live after a while as they made me so nervous.

That all needs to change this season and the first few games will tell.

This is so disappointing if true. A second rate player whose main asset is that he is cheap. How far we have fallen. Hang your head in shame, Kenwright.

Do we have any scouts outside of the UK anymore?

I'd also be interested to know why so many British clubs sign young, unproven player's from overseas without any work permit issues or delays?

Justin, I had that discussion with my brother and son last night.

In response to your question, I cynically suggested we don't have scouts.

I think our recruitment strategy is to watch Sky Sports News, TalkShite and the BBC gossip column.

Couldn't hit a barn door from 5 yards.

Mel #31,

Scored as many as Richarlison, and a couple more assists. So where are your comments coming from?

Mal #31, lots of times, neither could Richarlison.

Danny #30, don't forget TW.

His stats are decent, as good as Richarlison's in just about every department, but – like others – I can't understand why we always buy these players once the value has been added by a "lesser" Premier League team. Why aren't we scouting them out when they're available for under £5M?

@Michael Lynch,

For the same reason Spurs are buying Richarlison for £60 million quid. It would be great if we could get a never-ending supply of cheap players we could sell for tens of millions.

But no club can do that. Scouting isn't an exact science.

Where do we stand with Moise Kean?? Loan again or sale?

Would Dwight McNeil not be a cheaper alternative to Dennis with arguably more to his game?

He had a poor season last term, but has done pretty well overall in a team that doesn't do much attacking. Plus he's only 22.

McNeil is as slow as me after 7 pints, so perfect next to Gomes.

C'mon Thelwell, haul ass, mate!

Depends what we want. McNeil can cross, Dennis can't. If we're keeping hold of Calvert-Lewin then McNeil would be the better fit. Not quick but can cut inside. And besides, we've had slower. James had less pace and still made an impact.

Crossing a ball, especially with better coaches, I'm sure can be improved. It's the finishing or pace you either have or haven't – although a professional sprint coach could add a yard, apparently.

James @ 15, unfortunately "pacey yard dogs" are rare and very expensive. I suspect we will be shopping in the slow yard dog market.

I may copy and paste this onto other threads around transfers, but heres my generic thoughts.

Forwards:– Richarlison gone - workrate will be missed. I was never a massive fan but the lad did brilliant in the last few months of last season and for me moves on with good will. I agree with comments that he was never a No 9 and didn't gel too well with Calvert-Lewin.

He is clearly now our No 9 and supplementing him is key. We saw how well he did under Ancelotti when he was told 6-yard box, poach and get fed.

Gordon needs to improve his crossing to feed Calvert-Lewin if that's how we are looking; for me, Ziyech on the right wing would be a good option on loan as he would supply Calvert-Lewin with crosses and Gordon or Gray on the knock-ons. Plus my number one target who I will come onto later...

Rondon is what he is; I thought he was extremely unfairly criticised last season – he works hard and gave his all throughout his appearances. He was clearly not match-fit and, once he got more into shape, Calvert-Lewin started coming back and he is our No 9 so Rondon was then reliant on sub appearances.

He was a dick getting sent off the way he did but I think for a 'hold-up' striker, supported properly, there's not many in the Premier League I would rather have as a back-up than Rondon.

Simms and Dobbin are not ready yet, I wanted to love both of them but, from what I have seen, they are not ready for the Premier League. I still think if we had any options on Moise Kean, he would do well.

Defence:– One priority this season was securing that awful defence. I think James Tarkowski will help do that. He's a leader, he is surprisingly progressive, and he will be a nark.

I'm not sure him and Mina will be ideal, but I could see Tarkowski being the one to idealy compliment Michael Keane.

Keane is a much criticised centre-back but he can defend, can play out, and just needs that security with him. I think Tarkowski & Keane might be a good centre-back pairing. Anyway, I feel that the centre-back situation needs streamlining (someone needs to go or out on loan).

I love Jarrod Branthwaite, I think he will be brilliant and we should 100% keep him. Mason Holgate, despite his attitude, stepped up in the last few weeks of last season and did well generally. Seemed to stop chewing fucking chewy too...

Ben Godfrey I feel is the lost piece at the moment, the lad has talent but he is not dominating enough or aware enough to be the second of two centre-backs. He's capable everywhere but not elite. I would try him in the 'no 6' position. He's rapid, he can tackle, he's positionally aware enough to have that position as an area where at least the centre-back can cover for him, and his lung-busting runs from defence we have seen could cause absolute panic in opposition teams.

I love Yerry Mina but we simply cannot rely on him to stay fit and, as such, given he and Tarkowski would be similar 'alpha-defenders', I would let him go.

In addition, our FFP is more about our wages as opposed to our transfer fees, I believe. We've shifted roughly £400k a week I reckon from Delph, Tosun, Kenny (who I wanted to stay), Sigurdsson, and Richarlison. We can afford new wages. If we let Yerry go on the cheap, as much as I love him, we wouldn't lose too much given Tarkowski coming in and I feel we can rely on him more.

Our central defence is well-stocked in numbers but not ideal in skill-set and I do think we let Tarkowski show his leadership qualitiies, he's a potential captain for me. We also have Reece Welch in the U-21 squad who could start to develop in a good player.

My target – my absolute, top, realistic target for us this season, is Oleksandr Zinchenko. Forget the left-back stint he took for most of his Man City time, he is a fabulous central midfielder. I would fucking throw money at City for him. I keep reading £20-25M for him and I think that's cheap.

He's a winner, he's progressive, can tackle, can spot runs, plus as an added bonus we also have his national team left-back at the side and, if in a midfield three, Zinchenko could play slightly ahead of Mykolenko, or as an advanced midfielder.

I genuinely believe that Zinchenko could be an elite-level signing for us and that a transfer is achievable. I don't know his current wages but, from what I saw, it's not ground-breaking even if we doubled it to get him.

He will move on from Man City and he will get played in a more natural position and get more time and I stake my 'reputation' on him being a more impactful player than he is at Man City currently. He is what I want to see at Everton.

Other thoughts:–

Emmanuel Dennis, hmmm one season wonder and even that was half a season. Not so sure, seems to have a bit of grit to him but faded 2nd half of last season, is he sussed out?

Nathan Patterson, I would consider letting him play wide right ahead of Seamus Coleman when opportunities allow. He is clearly an attacking right-back and to get him used to the Premier League, I would play him ahead of Seamus who could play that role Azpilacueta plays at Chelsea.

Tom Davies – not sure what to think... I don't think he is Premier League quality and I would consider letting him go but for a price, he could do a job at lower-position sides but, as we aspire not to be in that area, I'd get rid. Sorry Tom.

Alex Iwobi. If ever there was a player who shifted so quickly in my view, it's young Alex. I hated seeing him on the pitch... enter Frank Lampard and his "bollocks" quotes and up stepped Alex Iwobi.

I'd keep him for now, but be willing to shift him if or when the 100% effort he put in for the last few games drops off.

Get rid:– André Gomes, never kicked on. I don't think financially we have much other 'deadwood' as we shifted Delph, Tosun, and Sigurdsson... which is about £250k a week. Again, I like André as a guy and as a player, but he is not suited to the Premier League and needs to move on for him and us. I would prefer to see Lewis Warrington tested, or Isaac Price. Tyler Onyango we should also hope resumes from injury with good progress.

I don't see the point in Andy Lonegan, and would rather have Harry Tyrer as a 3rd option. Same with Joao Virgina, get rid.

Marcus Thuram is a player I'd look at. Fast, physically adept and could handle the Premier League.

One year left on his deal before he goes for nothing.

Concentrate on improving the shooting of Gordon, Gray, Iwobi, Dobbin and Townsend and we can concentrate all our resources on beefing up the midfield with the quality that has been lacking for years.

A strong spine at the back, a strong spine in midfield, and we won't be losing too many games. It's a pity this Adams lad looks to be favouring Leeds because he seems to fit the defensive midfield position perfectly and then with an Eriksen type to be our midfield general tied to the energy of Doucouré, I believe that will get us back to the top half of the table.

I would also like to see us raid Chelsea for the likes of Pulisic, Zyeck, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Gallagher or Gilmour. Surely with their incoming, some of these will be available for loan or purchase – but no Spurs or Man Utd rejects please.

How about this for a “left-field” option?

Proven goal scorer, who scores a surprisingly decent number of goals from hardly any chances at all (11 goals last season, same as Antonio and Watkins, which is 1 more than Richarlison got), and would be a great alternative type of forward… Pukki at Norwich… and probably quite affordable.