Everton decide against extending Doucouré's contract

He will be free to negotiate a new contract with the club under different terms.

I think he's worth another season as we transition.

Be just like a new signing :-)

Okay he has been okay the last couple under Moyes, but didn't he do similar after scoring the goal that ensured our safety against Bournemouth. Sat back and provided very little, but still got picked each game ?

Let's concentrate on a sensible rebuild with younger, eager, talents who will give their all alongside some old experienced hands - Gana, Tarks and Picks !

Possibly delivered the most value of any pre 2021 Moshiri era signings (which is kind of a damned by faint praise observation but not intended to be mealy mouthed).

I have been expecting him to head off in summer - possibly Saudi (why wouldn't you?). Good luck to him if he does. We move on.

He's probably off to Saudi, as no one else would offer him big wages, but I hope it works out for him.

I have to be thankful for his goal against Bournemouth, he will always be remembered for that, thank you.

He will be leaving free and gracias, which seems a shame.

It is clear to all of us he is a player with limited technical abilities but is a willing runner. That was fine for us over the last number of years when staying in the league was the focus.

If there is to be any evolution at all across the squad, then it makes complete sense that he moves on after this season and we opt for younger, more dynamic and technically gifted players in this role.

All the best to him; clearly his heart has been in the right place but his finishing most certainly was not.

I get players agents may be asking but there's 11 games to go, lots to play for? Why demotivate players?

Doucoure and Gueye allegedly had offers from Saudi Arabia (the new MLS), so I'm guessing they wanted an answer sooner rather than later.

Coleman, Young, Keane, Harrison, Lindstrom, Alcaraz are the next decisions to make.

Out of that lot, I'd only keep Lindstrom and Alcaraz.

It's big for us obviously. But as we improve we'll have to start paying this and more to a lot of players.

I would have liked to have seen more out of him when he was in the first few years of his original deal and several years younger.

We should be basing our model on the Brighton or Bournemouth style, not Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea or Arsenal.

Move to a results-based rewards system rather than fat salaries. Perform well and you get rewarded.

I cannot recall a player who worked harder or had more obvious love for the club than Doucoure. He has done the badge proud. I hope he gets subbed off in the final game at Goodison so that he can get the farewell roar from the crowd he deserves. He epitomizes Everton itself in recent years -- grossly imperfect but relentless in passion and effort, and ultimately a survivor.

Two images of him will remain with me. One, of course, is that goal against Bournemouth. The other is celebrating in front of the RS fans a few weeks ago -- I know some of y'all didn't care for it, but I loved it.

And hey, this makes DK a happy man, so it's a good thing!

I gotta know... when did you EVER see him take his foot off the gas?

I never saw that, not for a minute in 140 games. He frequently drove me crazy, but never, ever because of lack of effort.

To me, he has always looked like he has been fully committed to the club and played with a smile on his face... But then again, he should be smiling on £130,000 a week.

He was undoubtedly our most important player in Dyche's 1st season in how we were set up but thankfully we've moved on from that nightmare now, and Doucoure will be a peripheral figure once we have fully fit squad, so it's the right time to move on for both parties.

I'd use that £130,000 wages to try and sign Angel Gomes on a Bosman this summer.

Brighton and Bournemouth have done very well as minnows to get where they are – but they haven't achieved anything that we would be proud of (iIndeed, they only managed about the same points as us last season if you ignore our disgraceful deduction).

They are absolutely good models to follow for the next stage of our development but, at some point, we will need to pay the sorts of salaries the richest 9 clubs pay.

And within the top richest 9 clubs, £130k pw isn't a massive salary.

If we're to establish ourselves in the Top 6 or Top 4 (possibly even Top 8 unfortunately), then at some point, we'll have to pay the going rate or thereabouts for salaries at that level.

He started strong in a defensive kind of role under Carlo in Carlo's first season but the next year his stats in a more active role dropped off under Rafa. He carried on being poor under Frank Lampard to the extent he was dropped.

Then suddenly, with 6 months of his contract left, he had (by his standards) a goal glut under Dyche to end that season and earn a new deal. Since when we've kept him on the straight and narrow by running year to year.

Likewise at Watford, he started off well then, by Year 3, his goal involvements had halved from the prior two seasons.

They were second only to Chelsea in spending among all of Europe's leagues during the 2024 summer transfer window, spending just under £200M.

That date has now passed without the club talking to him about exercising the option, so he will be a free agent at the end of his contract.

Yes, £130k is a lot of money in anybody's language, but the best players now want to sign for clubs in Euro comps. which is a barrier for us at this time. Its a bit of a chicken and an egg situation.

Moshiri was giving over the odds contracts to attract player to come, at least that's how it seems to me.

One minute, he can't find another blue shirt; the next, he's scoring the winning goal or a very quick one – he's pure frustration to the max.

Because of his current wages, will he take a lower wage and a 1-year contract if he was to be offered? Or is he off elsewhere, like Saudi for eye-watering wages?

We get nothing, so he's in a win-win situation; see how he performs if picked over the next 11 matches…

For me, we need younger eager players with less demands on wages to keep ahead of PSR – does anyone know where we stand financially in that respect?

I've got nothing against Doucoure as he generally worked hard and gave his all, but he just doesn't have the quality we need and certainly doesn't justify $130K pw. Let him move on along with most of our soon to be out of contract players.

We're currently 16th in the league and have struggled to avoid relegation over recent years, so we need to recognize that a change in approach is needed.

So we should take the gamble with recruiting mostly younger, up and coming talent rather than continue with the failed 'gamble' of signing or re-signing older and expensive players in the hope that they can revive or end their careers with us. That certainly hasn't worked out too well for us up till now has it?

Anyway, whatever is the case, he knows now. Interesting that so many cynics seem to think that this will cause him to ease off. I would have thought that the opposite is more likely and that now he is in a shop window he will play to the "highest level" of what he is capable of in these "come and get me" hours.

In fairness on the flip side remember when Everton never actually told Osman and Hibbert they were done until the duo's contracts actually expired and both (as well as Hibbert's wife) unsurprisingly took the hump about no lack of formal notification after some many years of service.

If so, it will be another player to replace, though there are a few free transfers to be had this summer of a similar level.

His genuine love for the badge always stood out, and always reminded me that most players are probably smart enough to stay away from message boards and Twitter: If he read half of what was said about him, he’d think he was responsible for all our problems of the last few years, rather than a key part of miraculously keeping us up despite all of our major flaws.

I don't think most people would accept worse terms in their jobs? Why should footballers? They get paid the amount they do because in the inflated world of football, that's their value.

In a few years I'd be hoping we, as a much bigger club, are competing with more illustrious clubs than Brighton - ie the clubs actually winning things and playing Champions League football.

Totally agree that we have to play a Brighton style game in squad building (also not dissimilar to what the RS do) to kick on - but I wouldn't then want to plateau out at Brighton's level.

Liam # 39. Makes total sense to me.

But it obviously makes sense to pass. At a minimum it's time to renegotiate. Personally I'd rather we moved on from selecting an advanced midfielder/second forward on the basis of work ethic rather than talent and creativity.

But in the situation we're in, and on the right terms, he's at least going to be worth talking to.

End of the financial reporting year for clubs.

Bayer Leverkusen draws 30,000 and had won almost nothing until last year, when they stormed the league by a mile and won two cups besides, and now look completely at home in the CL.

Look at how far Brighton have come already, and I wouldn't put it past them to take that one more step. Brian's right. Those minnows have grown into decent-sized sharks. We could follow a worse example.

The CEO? A construction guy, unlikely.

Thelwell? Soon to be leaving, unlikely.

Moyes? The manager who picks the team and knows what players he wants and what he wants them to do and how capable they are of doing it. Very likely.

IMWT?

The Bundesliga isn’t a good comparison for EPL as they didn’t even have a professional league until the 60s. Leverkusen may have won almost nothing but they were in the champions league final 20 years ago around the time Brighton almost dropped into the amateur non league. Their stadium only holds 30,000 but only half a dozen top tier teams can house 40,000 or above. Brighton by comparison is a small beach town who
briefly got into the top division in the 80s, promptly got relegated and almost went before before climbing back and becoming
the new Charlton, Bolton, Stoke etc who are mid table, steady until they’re not.

He may well go to the Saudi League to get one final payday. Good luck to him if he does.

I was made up when Brighton went down in the same season and they became a gypsy team wandering from stadium to stadium and once pronounced dead did a Lazarus. Kudos for that.

I think of them as a dainty team on the south coast who could lose 5-0 one week and win 5-0 the next week. They seemed a few years ago to be on the cusp of something special and started counting their weeks in and around the top 6 (4 even) but they were not able to make that last step and turned around 1,000 foot from the summit.

But they are today eleven points ahead of us and have in essence become a top half team in the B-belt from which they will never progress – Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford and honourary ‘B’ Fulham - despite their top-drawer recruitment model/set-up because they are and always will be a selling club. After reaching a zenith there is only one way to go.

And Kieran, to be fair, Brighton is a lot better than a “small beach town”. What’s up, did Zoey Ball say no back in your disco days?

$130K is very expensive for a squad player in a team fighting for relegation. He's poached as his peak (28 y.o) and an established EPL player. We should go back to the old ways how Moyes operates. Loan with buy option.

Brighton are doing well, but as you say have not got the infrastructure for the big time, but do have the right Culture within the Club to stay at a challenging level in the Premier League.

Everton are doing Ok do have the infrastructure for the big time , but do not have the Culture within the Club to be at a challenging level in the Premier League.

It is going to take a long time, probably post Moyes.Yes we do have Professional Owners who will bring in better financial controls and a better Management structure, but the old boy network still exists at Everton in recent appointment Baines has been promoted to one of Moyes Assistants in the first team and Cavanagh has returned as U21 Coach.

Until Everton have a Culture like Brighton infrastructure alone will only result in comfortable Premier League survival at best.

The real question is will the TFG be happy with this? To get somewhere you have to be at least heading in the right direction.

The first match I saw they took the game to Chelsea, who I think were the title holders from the previous season, and nearly won. Then they continued the season in the same form and held their own in the EPL for a few seasons, even winning an FA Cup. Where are they now?

I expect that the same will happen to the other 'B' teams currently enjoying their time in the sun. They're "punching above their weight" and one day when other teams around them (us?) get their act together and become better run, they will start to decline.

It won't be that they are doing badly, but just don't have the resources to continue improvement while other clubs do (again, us?).

But enjoy it while they're here, it's a breath of fresh air to have these teams do well rather than be yo-yo clubs.

Their pre-fab ground is surrounded by fields somewhere near Brighton. Our new world-class iconic stadium with 23,000 more seats is on the banks of our Mersey in our city.

There's the difference. But we need to be patient. It might take as long as 12 months for us to finish in the top 4.

Once we have got our act together and become a well run club again with finances to boot, we will overtake Brighton.

Jerome # 52, what Brighton have done well - led by the owner - is put in place club infrastructure:

- data analytics technology based on the owners betting empire (to detect value)

- global youth and low cost markets scouting networks

- a sister club in Belgium (which won the Belgian league last season)

- investment in the academy / youth player trading

The club is set up to optimise its potential - which is why they do well. But if we put in place the same sort of thing we should confidently expect to do better - as do the RS.

The seem well-established in the Premier League and I too, wouldn't liken them to Wigan. And no, they don't have the stature of Everton, but have come a long way from some very dark days.

Any team can be relegated, it happened to Bournemouth, but they came back. And ask any of the bigger statured clubs, who have suffered that same fate in recent years; Aston Villa, Newcastle, Leeds United and, very nearly us on a few occasions too many.

A bit harsh on the stadium Paul. it's quite smart and suited to their needs and size of fan base and generates a good atmosphere. A university complex has sprung up next to the ground along with an impressive training complex. I don't know if that is part of the campus or is Brighton's. Also, there is a train station right outside, a mute point for us and BMD at the moment!!

I've always enjoyed my days out at Brighton. Apart from the cattle-herding like controlled queuing system to get on the platform at said station after the match.

Doucoure's wages also symbolise what level everyone else should be on. If we sign a new player they'll want to be equal or higher than him. The wage of our top player pushes the wage of others up too.

Also if you walk into their club shop you'd be shocked what you can buy. They have a million different things on sale, not just a few kits and training tops like us. Whoever replaces Richard Kenyon as our Commercial Officer just needs to take a trip there to get ideas on how we can monetarise the club better. Our commercial side is a joke.

Under Moshiri we dished out crazy contracts to bang average Premier League players, it didn't work and nearly sunk us as a club. Sensible contracts only for the time being and what a player demands should determine if we are interested or not.

This basic rule should keep us looking for the right type of player, young, hungry and with space to develop. That fits with the model Robert alludes to that we should be aiming for. Sell them on for large profits hopefully and re-invest. If we manage that successfully for a number of years, then we should be talking about sticking or twisting with that model in favour of really going for it.

There's a really long list of players earning £100k pw (+) including such stars as Matt Target and Reiss Nelson.

Brighton pay lower wages because they pick them up from low-cost markets and / or young where wage demands are lower. Once a player can command a bigger wage, he is sold and replaced with someone younger etc with a lower wage demand.

We'll probably have to do likewise for a spell. But then, if we (or Brighton for that matter) want to transition into a club that keeps its best players, then you have to pay the market rate for wages.

All I said was that it was surrounded by fields and is somewhere near Brighton Danny!

I've only been there once but I still think that I'm along the right lines mate!

Talking about Brighton, Robert is correct in saying that they have a super smart owner who has his football betting business giving him instant info on players worlwide.

Thats been our achilles heel, scouting and buying players.

Considering that Moshiri paid a small fortune for the services of very well regarded DoF's & managers, he and us deserved a lot better.

It's all that Fat Boy Slim shite Mark. They honestly believe, I think, that Brighton is cooler and more defining than our city FFS mate, well mine and to some degree yours. I'm off to zzzzzz kissing the dry white good night

He can’t trap a bag of cement/pass a ball ten yards, at times but, he’s been such an important player over the last few years despite this incredible limitation.

Casting my mind back and I’m sure it was losing Doucoure, that made Ancellotti’s - Everton, suddenly start sinking like a stone, and I will never forget his goal against Bournemouth, and believe we have a lot to thank him for.

Can’t keep him on that money though, even though his incredible energy will be missed, imo.

I liked it a lot better before the bastards stopped selling Harvey’s in the away end!

I never knew you were a sherry drinker mate and like a schooner of the Bristol cream :)

Doucoure gets a lot of stick, often deserved, but he has contributed when its mattered to a struggling team. As I said earlier, I hope he's on the pitch at Anfield in a few weeks.

I’ve nothing against Doucouré other than the fact he is a limited footballer who is of an age when he is only going downhill. Thank you for your service, the Bournemouth goal in particular, best wishes for the future but not with us. Please do your best for us for the rest of the season.

Never heard of Harveys apart from said sherry brand, also do you want sugar in your tea?

Everton are one of the only Club now in the Premiership that have a Rest and Recovery regime, most of the rest have a High performance regime built on stamina and resilience.Particularly the top performing Club.It was introduced at Arsenal and then Liverpool first.Man City employ the same regime, as does Brighton.

We are not going to get such a change under Moyes.

If this is how Moyes wants us to play, he's going to have to condition the squad to play that way. At the moment, due to injuries on top of a thin squad, we're good for a half or an hour.

Mark, I've not heard any news on Ndiaye, but that would be great.

"Casting my mind back and I'm sure it was losing Doucoure that made Ancelotti's Everton, suddenly start sinking like a stone,"

I'm surprised Mike Gaynes hasn't been on to remind everyone that Everton have not lost a game that Doucouré has played in.

The plethora of IPA's infused with all varieties of wild flowers, herbs and assorted fungi, to be drunk against a backdrop of scented candles, is a backward step IMO.

I hope BMD retains some tradition and doesn't give way to a selection of fake branded lagers.

Rant over… back to the football..

I think there is more chance of me swimming across the Mersey than there is of decent beer being served in or outside the stadium. What will be served will be freezing, gassy and tasteless; and probably very expensive.

I fully support Mark's endorsement of Harvey's Sussex Bitter. It was by far the best pint served at any stadium in the history of the Premier League.

My favourite was the Dairy Freak, milk ice porter. Sadly the brewery went into administration in December. Now they do Amstel.

Ancelotti's team went over the cliff long before Doucourie got injured.

People go on about Dyche's team playing the worst football seen at Goodison but that was only because fans were not allowed into Goodison when in 11 homes games where we barely mustered a shot on target.

The wheels started to come off around Chrimbo when we lost 0-2 against Man U - Doucourie played.

Doucourie also played in the 0-1 defeat to West Ham. The 0-2 defeat to Newcastle. The 0-2 defeat to Fulham and the 1-3 defeat To City. He also stunk the house out in a 1-1 home draw to Leicester.

In fairness to Doucourie It didnt seem to matter whether he played or not. Carlo managed a massive four points in the remaining seven games without him.

Serving up Shite football for Evertonians isn't the only thing Carlo and Dyche had in common. They both insisted on playing the Duke when he was fit. Even though he was about as much use as a horse in a hospital

Moyes has worked wonders but it's very early days. Let's see where we are in the league this time next year, and fingers crossed, this isn't a new manager bounce. Mind you, we will at least be in our new stadium and in the prem next year so that's something.

I saw on some shite-bait internet malarkey site that 'club sources' have denied reports that a decision has been made about Kevin Thelwell. I hope that's true and we keep him around.

On saying that, I live right in the middle of them and they are like koppites but without the silverware to back them up. The fans that is, the club seems a good un to me. I still don't think they'll outlive or ever out do us and I really believe that in a couple of years we'll be back at the top, and they won't ever be, but I don't think that's “bashing”.

I also hope they will get to the cup final and that they will play Palace and get hammered. Palace fans around here are much more grounded.

On saying that, if that scenario comes to pass, there will be trouble. They absolutely hate each other.

There is no guarantees regarding injuries, but both those teams are involved in multiple competitions, whilst Everton after Feb are involved in one.Has been like that for years.Everton qualifying for a European competition would present a problem.

Dave #81

Players do take advantage off the pitch avoiding training, but on the pitch is stretching things, though it may appear to offer a reason for some player performances.

We can't afford to pay 6 figure salaries with a turnover of about £170m. We are light years behind the top 6 and to some extent clubs 7 & 8 - Newcastle & West Ham.

We rank 14th in the league, below Fulham, Palace. Leicester & Brighton. The 6 clubs below us are Wolves, Brentford, Forest, Southampton, Bournemouth & Ipswich.

Salaries must be a max of 85% of turnover, we are currently in excess of 90%. This means we must replace our outgoing players with new recruits on lower wages.

We don't want the likes of Harrison on £90k a 32 year old Doucoure on £130k nor a 35 year old Gana on £120k. For me a 32 year old Tarkowski can go too on £100k.

Consider the clubs I've mentioned and see why Leicester seem to be following the trajectory we were in terms of boardroom ignorance.

Brighton turnover £205m, wages 63%.
Fulham £184m, wages 77%.
Palace £180m, wages 73%.
Leicester £177m, wages 116%.

Three of these clubs have scope to spend on wages if their transfer budget allows, Leicester on the other hand must sell to reduce theirs.

We must to continue to off load players and replace them with players on much lower salaries.

At the other end of the scale the reason the Spurs fans are screaming is that their turnover is ranked 4th at £549m although their wage budget is currently 46% the lowest in the Premier League.

The fact that Doucoure has been a shoe-in for most of his time at Everton, shows the bereft of talent that the squad has possessed, for a long time now.

Hopefully Alcaraz, continues to play like he’s started and hopefully Everton, have a successful summer transfer window because the premier league is full of very inconsistent football teams right now, imo, so let the sea of change begin🤞

The sleeping giant has to wake sometime

He obviously can't go on his current wage, he needs to be paid in line with what he can now do, but if he was to accept £65/70k per week he would save us money in recruitment, no one can say he's lost his legs, he can put a big shift in for the full game.

We are set to lose a lot of players, we will need to spend wisely and with the midfield being down to just Garner and Timmy before we sort out a deal for Gana, we really will have to buy in that position.

Signing Doucouré and Gana on a 1-year deal will allow us another 12 months before needing to spend on that roll.

We clearly need a right back, left back cover (minimum), a forward, some craft in wide areas and in a central position, that won't come cheap, so some juggling is a must.

In Pattaya I used to drink Greene King IPA which was good and a lighter change from the Old Specked Hen that was also available.

Viet Nam has an abundance of craft beers which to me are very much like lagers, even with names like IPA and Bitter, they just don't taste like real ale, and imported English beers are just not available.

So in Ha Noi I drink the local Halida which is a good lager, or Beer Hoi Ha Noi. In Pattaya when no real ale is available I drink Chang, or Guiness which is not widely available.

A standard lager that is available around Asia is San Miguel Light. It has the advantage that it doesn't taste horrible, is low carb and low calorie, and cheap. It's the only thing I can drink here in Jakarta as the local Bintang flares up my gout.

Even by yank standards he loves his stats. He made me laugh recently by proclaiming just how much he loves them. He is (IMO) wrong about some things, but there is more chance of you and I being struck by the same bolt of lightning than of him getting his stats wrong.

My guess is he has quoted figures compiled within a certain time frame.

It's okay… I wonder if Roger still hopes he dies before he gets old??

Regarding Doucoure, I've never been his biggest fan; if it's a toss up between retaining him or signing Alcaraz, then it's Charly all day long for me.

Gana is a less straight-forward decision, his long passing has improved massively and the rest of his game is as consistent as the season before (with the exception of goals), but he'll be 36 next season.

Gana's stats as the league most prolific tackler make him hard to let go, but there will be several high ranking players going out the door for zero fees, it would cost us quite a few million to replace Gana, not so Doucoure, Harrison, Lindstrom etc.

As a fan base, we know we are several years away from a Man City level and this has been the case since the mid 80s, we have been starved of real quality players or pure footballing team and in its place workrate, journeymen and wannabes. Quality has shrunken and workrate is the new mantra. Dyches tenure being the perfect example.

The problem is without enough quality you have to work even harder, pushing the opportunity to bring quality in, secondary to impact on the team.

We have been conditioned to accept this because we understand where we are, but the best teams compliment each other and cover the quality players allowing them and thereby the team, to be very successful.

I for one believe we will only be successful as a club when we get this balance right and we as fans stop believing that the only way teams can be successful is through hard work and effort and realize we need the playmaker, the raider, the keeper and dynamic fullback, to show us what we have been missing for so long.

When we had James, look how well we were playing — every team needs hard workers but you also need someone who can pass the ball through the lines, someone who provides the X factor.

Hard working players only get you so far; I absolutely despised watching us under Dyche.

Aside from the Forest and City ground love-in, one of the commentators did come up with a valid point. One or two talented players don't make a team. They need those around them to perform as a whole.

Very true. You don't need to 11 most talented players, you need a team that plays and works incredibly hard for each other. Yes, the best teams have one or two sprinklings of gold dust in terms of quality, but they alone won't take you to the next level.

Mick, I lost count of the amount of times I left Goodison and other grounds feeling numb during Dyche's tenure. Even when we had chilled out a result, which often meant that we hadn't been beaten.

Sentiment and keep it in the family, has been a cause of the demise over the previous 3 decades.

But small steps in the right direction.
UTFTs!

Sentiment and keep it in the family has been a cause of the demise over the previous 3 decades.

But small steps in the right direction.