Our Premier League Squad for next season

Serious question, does anyone think if Everton, had another five players in the squad, of a similar standard to what we already have, that we could qualify for European football next season?

We've been relying on 14 - 16 players. That is why I have given up blaming managers. It is the absence of strategy.

Assessed as objectively as possible, the squad is about 15th best in the division (or 5th worst). We have a few very decent players but the lack of pace and quality on the flanks (full back and wings) and at number 10 is a serious issue.

If we had more of the same quality, say, Doucoure, Gueye, Harrison etc - workers with very little ability - then I don't think it would make a massive difference.

What we lack is technical quality / pace in these positions - players like Eze and Olise at Palace, Mbuemo at Brentford, Neto and Ait-Nouri at Wolves, Pereira and Willian at Fulham etc etc.

A couple of players of this quality really would make a difference

All this talk about Onana and Branthwaite each going for £60M or £70M — do we need to shed that much total? Could we make do with just losing one (Onana for me)?

That's an interesting question. Without the points deductions, we would be 9 points below Newcastle in 7th place. So the challenge would be to turn three defeats into victories. That doesn't sound impossible if the manager with a bigger squad was able to rotate the team during the busy periods when we have three games in 7 days or as in December five games in 15 days.

I think we would need five players with different qualities to the ones we have. First and foremost, we need a playmaker in the attacking midfield areas, also a couple of wide attackers with more pace and goals and a 21-year-old Seamus Coleman. Lastly, we need stronger cover at centre-back.

I suspect the more immediate challenge will be to replace several of the existing squad given we need to sell at least one before the end of June and have several out of contract.

Using the figures published in the latest hearing report, our PSR losses for 2023-24 have to be below £46,097,219 or we will get charged for a third season. That is not counting the disputed stadium capitalisation figure of £6,561,000. If that is found against us, our PSR losses for 2023-24 will have to be below £39,536,219.

As comparator, the PSR loss for 2022-23 was £55,016,798 not including the disputed stadium capitalisation figure.

Looking at those figure,s it seems we'll have to sell both of these players by 30 June, and Branthwaite is certainly the one that would bring in the biggest profit, even allowing for Carlisle United's cut.

What is really galling is that the clubs we will sell them to will most likely be breaking the rules themselves, but are seemingly immune to any punishments.

Surely Lonegran has to also not get a new contract and hopefully we don't lose Pickford and Virginia to injury at the same time - but would Lonegran be so much better than recalling Harry Tyrer from his next loan?

Then there is Holgate and Maupay to come back from loans. I think Brentford may like to take the latter and the former has not covered himself in glory in Championship bound Sheffield Utd.

Then we have to make public the decisions about Sean McAllister and Reece Welch also coming back from loans and no doubt being released. And there are 4 players who are 22 or 23 who are out of contract. Mr Thelwell is going to have a busy summer!

But 6 defenders, 4 midfielders, and 4 strikers then stand by for some incoming players. And despite having Hunt and Warrington on the bench for a number of recent games, not one player from the U23s has played even one minute this season. I hope therefore, once safety is assured then at least these 22/23 year olds will be given one or two minutes at the end of the game - and maybe even some of the younger ones also on the bench. And stand by for a 5-0 loss on the last day anyway.

I think losing Branthwaite would be a complete disaster.

The club staying afloat comes first. However, we must not sell on the cheap. Between £90-120 million should be placed on him.

He is the real deal and will only improve. Tough times! Once we come through this period. We will rise again!

As for summer sales, if 777 take us over, Branthwaite and Onana will go in the summer. They will want some of their cash back. If it's someone else with a longer-term vision, keep Jarrad, even if Onana has to be sold.

Stones was talented at Jarrad's age but I think the latter is a much more complete defender and a future team leader (and maybe is already one).

I think we fully realise how much of a part he plays when he is not there through injury (pretty rarely) or some other reason. I would be tempted as we are on skids to extend his soon-to-be-expiring contract for another year anyway.

Phil F, spot on there, resist all temptation to sell Branthwaite, if players have to be sold. However, I do see a different case for Onana. I'm sure he is a decent player with better players round him (ie, Belgium etc) but rarely has he impressed me, when played.

He would be the first to realise some sort of decent fee in my reckoning. If we survive this season, which is looking increasingly likely, hopefully today will confirm safety, we have to build a team from the likes of Branthwaite, McNeil, Pickford, Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Garner, Calvert-Lewin. We would then need bargains, but quality ones, to come in and compliment them.

Get this last (coming) season at Goodison Park over in a decent position, ready to move into our new home, with (again) new successful owners (not 777 Partners)!

COWABUNGA :-)

I fear it will be needs must given our PSR backdrop once again, and furthermore the deal has to be done against a deadline, before the end of June. This gives purchasers a better hand. We cannot sell Branthwaite on the cheap.

I feel for Thelwell and Dyche, it is as he says, like juggling sand.

I agree, we should be much more ambitious – but in relation to our approach to recruitment. Unfortunately, if we attempt to play front-foot, attacking football with this squad we will get easily picked off.

The real ambition therefore should be in implementing a recruitment strategy (inevitably around youth development since we're skint) that can deliver a better standard of player to the first team squad. Once we've done that, front-foot attacking football can follow – but not before. If we don't make this transition as a club, then at some point a lesser manager than Dyche will end up taking us down.

Derek #93, you're absolutely right that Gueye brings plenty to the party. I don't dispute that at all, Doucoure too. But (and this is related to the response to Ernie above), I'd love us to be more than a team which chases and harries and forces (as opposed to creates) chances. I want the same front-foot football that Ernie seems to want. Gueye is both part of the problem and a solution at the same time.

Another Doucouré, another McNeil, another energetic midfielder, another fullback, pace out wide, and another centre forward, just to get us competing on a regular basis, because the games come thick and fast, but maybe then Dyche would feel a lot more comfortable with getting his team playing some expansive football?

I enjoyed the other night immensely, because I thought more than anything, we had too much energy for Liverpool, and I could see why Dyche, really frustrates quite a few people because when we scored, we sat back, and it was only after we did this that Liverpool suddenly got themselves into the game.

Everton proved the other night that football is all about energy. Other teams might have better players but, if you can get the players working for each other, especially when they have got such a ferocious crowd right behind them, then anything is possible, and you only have to look at the departing German, who couldn't stop smiling, to realize this.

Some big contracts come to an end this year (eg, Alli and Gomes!). So Dyche should have some room to sign a few players, even if just frees or loans.

Disappointed to see we'll still have Keane for another season…. Any chance we could sell Branthwaite for, eg £70M, but loan him back for a season?

Helps to clear PSR this season and buys us another year to get a new centre-back in.

If there's a bidding war amongst rich clubs for him, why not? He's got loads of years ahead of him.

I just read something about United thinking they can get Branthwaite for £60-70M in June as we need money to help us out of our PSR situation

But if we're going to be deducted points again, how many is it likely to be? We're on our way to surviving 8 so if it's only another 2 due to 'triple jeopardy' can we take the risk to keep him and earn more points than are deducted due to his presence?

I'd sell Onana for hopefully big money, but Brantwaite we should definitely keep, and the figures mentioned – £60M or £80M – nowhere near enough for a brilliant 21-year-old, 6'-6", left-sided centre-back, which are few. An English international shortly, and how do you replace him? Himself and Tarkowski comprise one of the best partnerships in the Premier League.

Are we back to the Kenwright era, selling one of the best English players ever in Rooney? Whoever takes over the club, that's the first thing they should do: keep Branthwaite. He signed a new contract, give him a higher deal.

We are reaping the rewards of the Kenwright era.

Unfortunately we will have to sell imo to stay alive and unload some big earners.

It's about whether we spend any money wisely which we haven't done in the past.

With you all the way. Branthwaite is our La(back)bone build around him. The young man is a nugget that should grace our new stadium for years to come.

I haven't been as excited about a young Everton player since Rooney.

The other side of the problem of course will be the Rooney conundrum, would a player this good be content to spend some more years with us, winning nothing in all probability.

Maybe we could scare him with examples of people who have left us and not prospered, right back to Jeffers via Rodwell, Barkley, Lukaku and now Richarlison. If it's Man Utd after him, maybe point out what they managed to do to Maguire...

That's reality.

That said, it needn't be the end of the world if we have to sell. I have an article exploring options already prepared and I'll publish after the Brentford game possibly.

For a left back there's Harrison Burrows of Peterborough. He's 22, played 52 games this season, scored 12 goals with 16 assists. This kid is also, on free, come June 24 and surely worthy of a look. If Dyche prefers experience and someone he knows, there's Charlie Taylor from Burnley, who is also on a free. He's 30 and his injury record is excellent. He's played 159 EPL games. Kompany's first choice left back.

For right-back, there's Johnson at WHU but I'm not really sold on him. Coufal is also on a free but he'll be 32 in August. However, his injury record is good. 44 appearances this season.

I reckon Dyche has is eye in Brownhill ( midfielder ) from Burnley who is on a free – Dyche signed him originally.

If we are looking for someone who knows where the net is, I suggest Brereton Diaz on loan or for a reasonable transfer fee. In 10 games for the awful Sheff Utd and not all 90 minutes mind, he scored 5 and got one assist. Villarreal may be open to another loan. A no-brainer for me.

Say we do sell him and his position is played by some combo of Keane, Holgate or Godfrey next to Tarkowski. Our defense is nowhere near as strong.

So, good one, Phil. I think you hit on the solution.

We have massive debts to repay. Administration is not off the table. Are there any other buyers? It's going to be a long road back financially, with huge implications for team rebuilding.

But the Dyche brand of realism will bring in 7 new players for £36M who will shock everyone with their pace and team spirit.

Winning 8 out of the first 10 fixtures and drawing 2 might shock some but not me.

We'll have to sell our best again, be unable to sign anything like a top player again, and will play in a stadium the actual owners of which will pay themselves a hefty dividend before investing a penny in the squad, again.

I wonder if the Glazers are 777's consultants?

Never heard of Burrows. Looked up a highlight reel. He looks a pretty neat footballer, especially for a full-back.

Here's the reel. Definitely showing some skill. League One, mind.

Link

I'd be looking at Diaz too. Play him on the left giving McNeil a free role behind a striker. We paid £2.75M to loan Danjuma, I'd do the same again for Brereton Diaz.

I think, for next season, we'll be shopping in the free transfer aisles. I'd not be surprised if the additions all arrive from relegated clubs. Brownhill, McBurnie, Bogle, Norrington-Davies.

For me, the fee for Harrison will be determined on whether Leeds are promoted directly or more realistically via the playoffs, if at all. Either wa,y I have a gut feeling he'll be too expensive. He still has 4 years remaining on his contract.

This is the reality, this is where we are currently.

Other than Branthwaite and Onana, I would be the Devil's Advocate: what if Calvert-Lewin refuses to extend his contract that will expire in 14 months?

I think having our "Dynamic Portuguese Duo" in place, Thelwell actually began preparing for such contingency a season in advance.

In fact, if I have to choose in selling two of the three, I would go with Calvert-Lewin – an England Striker, 27 years of age, who is entering his prime on an expiring contract? That would still allow Thelwell to drive up the premium and get as good a fee as we need, expiring contract notwithstanding.

Also Onana, if the likes of Bayern are interested as per reports, then we can simultaneously achieve the goals of getting good money and selling him outside of the Premier League.

£120 - 130 Million generated from Calvert-Lewin and Onana in total, then getting the breathing room on salaries via getting Maupay (his salary and an eventual Fee from Brentford), Gomes, Dele, Lonergan, Harrison, Danjuma off the books (collectively in the neighbourhood of £450k per week).

That should allow Thelwell enough room to manoeuvre (even if he can only re-invest 30 to 40% of the incoming fees) while continue to build the entire defence around Jarrad Branthwaite.

Of course, if Jarrad's agent instigates a move, all bets are off.

ps: The Club holds an option on Gana's £100k-per-week of salary: even if he wants to leave, the club can activate that option and keep things as open as possible (either keep him for next season or sell him as an expiring contract if he indeed wants to leave), unless our financials are so bad that we can't even keep the £100k per week on our books.

We also have the added bonus of Dele Alli being out of contract, so that's another £5.2M that can be spent better, How any club could afford to pay a player £10.4M over 2 seasons for 13 games is mind-boggling, especially given that we haven't got any money.

Despite surviving relegation, we still have the major problem of ownership, Moshiri doesn't want to know his preferred buyers can't get the approval of the Premier League. Despite rumours of other bidders waiting in the wings, none so far have disclosed an interest.

777 Partners have only weeks left to pay off the £158m loan to MSP that they extended till the end of the season, and seeing that 777s main provider of funds have said they will no longer loan money to 777, you wonder what happens if they stop funding the day-to-day running of the club.

£120 - 130 Million generated from Calvert-Lewin & Onana in total

Only one club would pay that sort of money. And it's us.

With some uncertainty around the club regarding ownership and the amount of debt having to be re-jigged, I cannot see there being a vast amount of money available, and we must learn our lesson regarding financial rules but, as others have said, we aren't the worst squad in the league.

Well done to Dyche and the players for their great efforts this season.

If we do have to sell, I wouldn't sell to any Premier League team under any circumstances. I'd rather get less from abroad or take the points deduction. We can't simply let the Sly Six take the absolute piss by trying to kill us before getting our players for fuck all.

From what I understand he came on at HT when we were 2-0 down to Palace and turned it around and we stayed up.
How much money did we earn this year above a year in the Championship? And was that more than £10,4m?

If it was, it was good business.

Take the money for Onana if offered, it may be less than we hope as all clubs will be cutting their spending as seen in Jan.

Keep Dele too, if we can sign him on a much reduced wage and he comes back to anywhere near his full potential then it will be more than worth it.

Gana another year if he wants it, he's shown he still has it and would be good to have around.

We should also look at the teams going down and see if there are any loan signings/free transfers we could make to strengthen the squad. Ross Barkely springs to mind if the fans would accept him back?

Next season could be a really tough one.

I was told by a Burnley friend that it's nailed on for him to join us in the the summer!

Whoever we sign, they will have to be team players who are not scared of hard work or sacrificing themselves for the team; otherwise, it's highly unlikely they will fit in.

You are right, Dele did come on against Palace, but let's drop the myth he had anything to do with turning this game around, he didn't score in it or make an assist.

Also, in the other 12 games, he didn't score or make an assist. So, as I said, a complete waste of money.

Is that incorrect??

In the first half against Palace, Everton were tepid, but in the second half they were very competitive and committed, and one of the reasons for this was because we replaced the completely ineffective Gomes, for the very spiky Dele Alli, and started winning a lot of second balls.

Alli's tenure at Everton has been appalling. Appallingly thought out, by appallingly unprofessional people, who have all helped contribute to running our club into the ground, but I'm glad he went on against Crystal Palace at half-time because his teammates definitely needed his contribution that night.

I'm no fan of Michael Keane but I'd prefer to see him in the squad anyday over Holgate. Are we stuck with him?

Without an influx of cash, it looks like selling off assets may be the only way to survive (yet again). Loanees may come and go so the onus will be on management as to who those will be. Forget Holgate as he is a back number.

Yes there were a lot of underachievers this season and performances for the most part were awful. As we all know, the 10-point deduction made the position seem worse; then getting 4 back of which another 2 were stolen the other way.

Calvert-Lewin being injured a lot was a big problem and, as Beto and Chermiti were not risked too much, a lot fell on the shoulders of McNeil and Doucoure for offense.

It could be argued that the rest of the midfielders used were inconsistent as Everton lost many battles there, even against lower opposition. Gueye came good with a last-gasp winner at Palace and winners against Forest and Brentford.

Apart from the weird result at Chelsea, April was a great month and Dyche should get Manager of the Month.

Ivan Toney and Sammy Szmodics are just two recent players who've gone through the Peterborough team.

Burrows is a good left-sided midfielder who slotted into the left-back position. He's been in the first team since he was a teenager and adapted well.

They also have Ronnie Edwards at centre-back who is a Rolls-Royce of a player and still only 21. West Ham have been interested in him as have Palace. Fees of £10m+ have been mentioned for him.

Whilst Peterborough have been in the Championship recently, they are a good League One play-off contender. My only concern is the jump from League One to Premier League would be too much (Brett Angell, anyone?!?).

Of the 8 players listed 2 have made no onfield contribution this season, Lonergan and Alli, so no need to replace those.
3, Coleman, Gomes and Danjuma have, todate, only 13 starts so again not a big onfield contribution. (I agree Coleman is worth his weight in gold to the club though.)
That leaves 3, Gueye, Young and Harrison who have played a significant role in the season.

Personally, I would offer Coleman and Gueye another season to provide some squad cover.

From a recruitment and finance point of view the sales of Gray, Iwobi, Cannon, Simms and Samuels-Smith are in this financial year so that has already brought £47.5m in (taken from TW pages). Yes, we bought Beto and Chermiti but that will still be a PSR positive of about £30m so perhap we could bring another net £50m from Onana, Maupay and Holgate?

I don't know how much we would have left to spend but, in that case, my priority would be a pacy right winger and creative Number 10. Harrison works hard for the team but his lack of a right foot means continually slowing attacks when he has to cut onto his left. He's not a Number 10, whilst all the midfielders are good grafters, there is little creativity. (Barkley anyone if Luton go down?)

A few people have also mentioned left-back. My only issue is lack of cover so I would look to get a young prospect in to help us there.

I've also seen and heard a few comments about Calvert-Lewin's availability. This season, he has started 29 and appeared as sub in 6 out of a total of 41 games this season so far. Given that, Beto having had a year to adjust and Chermiti developing, that is not a priority given our limited resources.

He kept the ball alive at the far post for our second goal.

And played a huge part in our third and winning goal without even touching it. If you watch the replay, you'll see he gives the Palace defender a slight nudge just as the ball is being delivered. This led to the defender just failing to get his toe on the ball... and Calvert-Lewin scores!!

Huge contribution in that second half from Alli, regardless of what the stats say.

Dele went down on a 50/50 ball some refs don't give. The "huge contribution" was Holgate taking the cross in and providing Keane a perfectly weighted, headed pass, to control and score the first goal.

The 2nd goal was Demarai, Coleman, and Richarlison. When Seamus did send Alli a perfect pass to chest down and do something special, he just smashed into the forest of legs without even looking. It was Richarlison, who did his part fighting 2 defenders to get to the rebound first and left-foot it across the keeper.

Seamus, Demarai, and Dominic, those 3 exclusively, created the winning goal.

On the other hand, Lee, if your post was tongue-in-cheek, you got me!

But what did we get for the one pacy attacker we had in the side? And how much is it now going to cost to replace him, given that pretty much everyone believes we're in need of a pacy attacker?

I still think freezing out and then falling out with Gray was a blunder.

Regarding next season's squad, we're in a tricky spot. We're missing players in defence and midfield, at every level of their development so we do need to bring players in. But it's not like we can bring in aging freebies to bring along the youngsters... we don't have any youngsters who are being brought along. And financially, we really can't afford players without resale value.

We can keep the show on the road. A couple from relegated teams,a couple of older players on frees, a couple of loans... basically fill out the squad on the cheap. But that approach will continue to have ever reducing outcomes.

At some point we're going to have to be bold and go and grab some decent young players, or commit some time to those coming through our own system. Basically we need to do what we should have been doing when we didn't necessarily need them.

It could fail, but it also could succeed. I don't see how filling out the squad year on year gets us anywhere but the championship at some point. It's just failing more slowly.

There are players out there, we just have to act fast, something Everton do not do… on or off the pitch.