St Etienne plan to exercise buy option for Nkounkou

Did anyone see the goal he scored last week? It was incredible, carried the ball from near the half-way line, cut in, went past a player or two, then let it rip from about 25 yards with his left foot. It went like a hypersonic missile into the top of the net.

Anyone know what the fee would be?

Jim, some French press are reporting the option to buy is set at €2M. It sounds like a giveaway to me.

I'm really disappointed he won't be at Everton, he's not an orthodox left-back, more a wing back, but the wide midfield role in our 4-5-1 may have suited him better. There is definitely a sprinkling of stardust on his left boot.

There's quality assists in him and now goals too. I'm sure many of us will follow his career to see if he can make it at the higher level.

I hope he stays as I think he could fight for a wide midfield role.

He's good going forward and worth keeping for next season.

Everton that.

Hope it's not another Antonee Robinson situation.

I expect Everton to sell him for buttons — as per usual.

I think Lyndon could be right about St Etienne selling him on, there are stories saying we will get £4M for him while St Etienne will sell him to Lille for a lot more than that.

More incompetence.

They will buy him for £4m and then Bill will agree a deal for £10m to buy him back, with a 50% sell on fee !!

He’ll probably go as will Branthwaite. Which young player with potential wants to stick around Goodison right now.

We will probably lose Pickford and DCL in the summer and be stuck with the likes of Maupay, Iwobi, Davies and Holgate next season.

I think we'll sell anybody we can, Colin. Probably have to, regardless of which division we're playing in. That could mean greater opportunities for promising young players, but they'll need to have the character to deal with a tough situation - something that often seems rather lacking in some of the more senior players, imo.

Couple of quick notes.

Nkounkou's departure isn't the same as Robinson's. Antonee can play some defense at LB. Niels 100% cannot.

Also, Nkounkou played the first half of this season at Cardiff City in the Championship, not at St. Etienne. His play there at LB as a defender was so bad, they had to stop playing him.

At the same time, he far and away had the best left-foot on the Cardiff team, the manager could have simply pushed him up onto the wing, so to retain his wonderful attacking skill. Nope.

So the Club called him back and sent him over to France and St. Etienne where, surprise-surprise, the manager has pushed him up on the wing permanently, where Niels is thriving.

I've said this several times about Niels and am repeating it. He has the best left foot of anyone currently signed to a contract with Everton FC, McNeil included.

Unlike McNeil, Niels has the quickness and pace to make his own room to use his left foot.

Anyway, he never did play for the 1st Team, so it's "No harm, no foul" I guess. He came on a "Free", so it's all profit, whatever we get for him.

Would've liked to see him on the left flank a couple times, though. The boy has a sweet left foot.

Dennis, if we do go down we, apparently, have to pay back a £150m loan. I suppose the sale of DCL, Pickford and Onana will cover that.

If the unthinkable happens then I hope 2/3 of the current squad are sacked or sold. Most of them aren’t fit to wear the shirt. Keep some old heads like Tarkowski and Coleman and build a team with young, hungry players.

Ridding ourselves of shite like Kenwright and his cronies and wasters like Iwobi, Maupay, Davies, Holgate etc… will be worth a year in the wilderness - if we do it properly.

Problem is, Colin - there's no guarantee it'd just be a year, or even that we'd avoid a further relegation. What a state Kenwright has brought us to, that relegation could be considered a necessary measure to rid ourselves of him!

As long as he breathes, he'll never leave us, Dennis. Unless of course there is a takeover and the new owners give him a massive boot up his fat useless arse.

Of course, no one wants relegation but that would be one scenario which would make him never show his face again. While he's around we will never progress as a club.

Colin @13,

I'm definitely pro relegation now because what are we achieving in the pit of the Premier League? I think that the solution is from within as long as Kenwright and his cronies aren't part of it.

There's no guarantee relegation gets rid of Chairman Bill. Even if it did, the financial constraints already exist caused by the years of financial ineptitude. Relegation would simply make this worse.

Staying up is essential. We haven't the finances or recruitment nous to return any time soon.

Another one bites the Dust! Shame I wanted to see a bit more of him in a blue shirt!.

This club really is pathetic, I'm getting to the stage I'm losing interest.

Ligue 2. We have too many players that came in under someone long gone. Not Premier League quality so yes move him on and good luck to the lad. Yes, we've had to loan out with terms that showed our desperation. That is where we were, deal with it.

Any funds that can be collected while reducing the wage bill along with associated deadwood is fine. I think I recall most sensible people being okay with this when Thelwell moved several out in the off-season.

St Etienne have had a few clubs asking for Nkounkou, they have an option to buy him for just over £2 Million, then intend to sell him straight away to one of the clubs who have been asking and fully expect to more than double the money they are paying Everton for him.

As per previous, he will not end up as a left-back, he will be turned out as a left-sided midfielder in my view.

Gutted we arranged such a deal. I was looking forward to seeing more of this guy.

I agree, Colin. My hope is for survival this season, followed by a takeover or conditional investment – one key condition being the removal of Kenwright!

It's almost mind-boggling where all the incompetence is leading to.

Let's hope someone at the club wakes up.

No deal,we might need him still!

It would be idiotic to not keep this player. We currently have seven first-team squad centre-backs so we could easily move to a 3-5-2 and accommodate this player on the left-hand side.

We have to give quality youth a chance, we need goals, letting Lookman and Robinson leave were other mistakes. Do we never learn?

If they have an option, we cannot prevent them from exercising it can we? I just hope St Etienne have had to put in more than the £2 million transfer fee cause otherwise they will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Anyone who is pro-relegation is basically pro the possibility the club will implode and sink like a stone. We all want radical change at the club but much better that be driven by another ‘too close a shave' than by actually dropping out of the Premier League.

We are potentially facing a points deduction for next season; can that only be applied if we avoid relegation this season? Better that it lead to dropping into the Championship at the end of that season than into League One.

This kid was never given a chance, like so many others at our club. He's be a better option going forward than Mykolenko and would have saved us a few bob if we'd tried him instead.

Colin @ 15 and subsequent posts.

Not too nice to read but all the bitter and harsh words make sense. I've been saying similar things for some time now with a huge amount of regret. It pains me to think that relegation seems the only way, whether it be by our own poor play and manager churn coupled with the incompetence of Kenwright and Co, it is a sad fact we will have to live with.

Whatever we will have to take the medicine and get it over with as soon as we can. Let's hope it is only one season.

Please.