Liam Delap could be the face of the Everton project says Fabrizio Romano

I’ll get me coat…

I think he would be a good addition, and just hope there are no snags.

Congratulations!

"It's in de lap of de Gods."

But I'm curious what that means for Beto and Calvert-Lewin, assuming v has a contract offer. Chermiti would certainly go out on loan, unless Calvert-Lewin goes elsewhere and Beto is sold. And that's all fine, assuming Beto doesn't sulk too much. But if Calvert-Lewin signs on reduced wages, and we sign Delap, that's a lot of someone sitting on the bench making decent money. I guess that's what happens with squads with good depth.

More than anything, it would be a real coup, a real sign of strength and probably a smart move for Delap if he came our way, assuming we sign a winger or two and a right-back who can get him the ball.

All clubs will have a £30M bid accepted, no-one needs to offer more and offering more won't get you anything.

Delap can then choose which club to join, based on the financial package, the status and opportunities of the club and the role he believes he'll be given.

Our only advantage is in the last of those three.

Anyone know where he's actually from?

I'd prefer a proven striker if we're aiming for top 6, ideally Richarlison if he can stay fit. I don't see Delap as an upgrade on Beto either.

Riding the bench for Man Utd or Chelsea won't help him.

The Alcaraz one is odd, it should have been straightforward if we wanted him. I can only think that Moyes may have someone else in mind for what is admittedly an absolutely crucial position on the field, and Charly may not be happy to be a squad player after the amount of time he's spent on the bench with us.

I'll put my hand up: I said he was a duffer. I'd keep him, he's scoring and he's getting into goal scoring opportunities.

Need Derek Mountfield to teach him to header it down, and he'd get a shit load.

He may be a great number 10 (?) to our own whirling dervish.Too many ifs buts and maybes about signings and we don't have any record other than debacle in the transfer market.

I would not call that a debacle.

Joe @ 18 – what makes you say that? What have you heard??

Martin, personally I wish we still had Kevin Thelwell, I thought he did brilliant in very difficult circumstances.

There would be a big expectation on his shoulders though with Everton being a significant step up from Ipswich. He'd get guaranteed minutes on the pitch though which isn't something some of the other clubs can offer him and he'd get to play at our new stadium.

I’d give Gana two years, but at what price? Richarlison is also a no for me, unless it’s a reasonable loan deal. Love him, but he has not shown enough with Spurs to justify a big price tag.

He was bought by Daniel Levy and it could be that the managers have not fancied him so much. They had Son, Kane and Kulusevski when he arrived and they have signed Werner, Madison, Johnson and Solanke since then.

Although Kane has gone, that is too many attacking players fighting for playing time. I think that Moyes could bring the best out of him if he stayed fit.

Surely I don't need to explain that a 20-21 year old playing in a better team might improve?!

I wonder what Harry Kane and Alan Shearer produced at 20-21?

Even Calvert-Lewin was able to score when Richarlison was his winger.

And there's every chance at Man Utd or Chelsea he'd be another squad player and stall.

Not saying he would hit the ground running should he join us, but there wouldn't be anywhere near the pressure on him playing for us compared to Man Utd.

But on the plus side, £30M is not a gamble in today's prices, and he's only 23.

To those speculating about where Delap is from, if he came to us, he'd hardly be coming home, he was born in Winchester. That said, he's probably been in Manchester for many of his teen years. Let's hope his family are settled there.

We absolutely need to go all in on this, big contract offer and the No 9 shirt. A certain starter; that said, I like Beto and think he can do a job next season, he is improving.

If he can score goals and wants to play for Everton, that will do for me.

I wonder how this works in with the PSR year ending the 30th June? Could mean Everton may have some headroom earlier than expected.

But not sure how Moyes will play twin strikers. For some reason, he was always better at keeping the lone striker up top (like Bent) but could never pair up say Beattie and Johnson or Yakubu and Johnson. He seemed more adept at keeping a lone striker with a No 10 or No 8 running in from midfield, like Cahill or Fellaini.

That all said, I suspect Delap will do something silly and go to Man Utd — where all good players go to die.

Probably rules them out of Delap race.

£30M for a 22-year-old up-and-coming striker seems a no-brainer to me — assuming of course he fits into our playing style.

"Sign for us, we'll match everyone else on wages and in 3 years time you'll be spearheading a thriving Everton team, or ready for a move to a bigger club where they'll have to play you every week."

That should be our pitch to him, and every young player we target.

I wonder if he knows the words to There She Goes?

Almost certain to have no impact whatsoever.

We do need two more forwards if Calvert-Lewin is leaving but I don't fancy Delap as one.

Despite Mark Murphy's efforts in trying to teach me, I still fluff my lines with the Ndiaye song.

Music was never my thing.

Just saying

Like Ray, I am hoping Chermiti can play a part. He's not that young, 21 now, and if he is going to really break through, it needs to be this season.

I am pretty good with Kopites are Gobshites and Red and White Shite though!

It does show the club’s ambition

I do believe Beto will deliver at least 15 goals next season with Ndiaye Alcaraz and McNeil or AN Other for Harrison in support

Asking if Delap can play the AN Other role or is he an out and out striker.

Just saw your stats Ed which helps my point I think

Also heard that Gana is linked to FC Paris which IMO this is the biggest gap to fill in our team a tough tackling ball winner in midfield

Not sure if he would get Everton which for me is the most important quality in a prospect after their football talent.

Villa or spurs I'd guess. City will be for what £40m plus and a wage packet of £250k a week? Which rules us out.

I do like him. He was brilliant at Villa, a throw back player.

On the other, it's £30M we could spend on other, much needed, reinforcements on our R hand side AND we already have Beto and
Chermitti!

Moyes only ever plays one up front, and Beto has proven he can score goals, Chermitti has shown some potential so we only need another loan striker like Broja and we're well stocked up front. I firmly believe Beto will easily hit double figures in League goals next season if he's our starting striker. He also has a good fitness record and is clearly well likes by his teammates and most of the fans.

But, if we don't sign Delap and he ends up being the next Kane/Shearer then many will be calling the Club for a lack of ambition!!

Tough call this one.

Thanks Ian and Brendan for answering my question.

If it was that easy…!

Alan Shearer at Southampton: 23 goals in 118 games. The ToffeeWeb geniuses would be telling us to stick with Mo Johnston.

Harry Kane’s loan spells: 14 in 66 in lower divisions across four teams. The ToffeeWeb geniuses would be telling us ‘get rid. End of’ and that we should give Yakubu another go.

It does take some actual scouting and football judgement to work out if a player will do well, and even then it’s a gamble. You can’t just produce some numbers and think you’ve discovered something no-one else knows about.

Everton given hope of game-changing Grealish deal amid word coming out of Man City. Please say it ain't so!

We start signing players like Grealish it's Moshiri all over again. Huge wages and they don't give a fk. He's won the lot and nothing to prove, steer well clear!

Point is in another team under a different style, he may not be the same player. How and where he plays, what role he has to do makes all the difference. Indeed teams are often built around strengths of individual players.

Delap for me is still well short of what we need, but chants of 'feed the Yak' the other day reminded me that in order to get the best out of any striker, no matter a Lukaku or Messi, the team has to play to their strengths, something Dyche and the Spanish waiter, totally failed to do. Whilst Beto is a force, he is not a player who converts crosses, a key tactic of overlaping fullback that Moyes uses, in that respect DCL wins hands down, alternatively despite a raft of misses, Beto looks a better one on one than DCL.

It's all about shape, individual strengths and fit into the style. Is Delap better?

Apparently, he was just left to get on with it by Dyche
but is now being coached on how to hold the ball up and bring others into the game.

He certainly knows where the goal is and with more experience will get more shots on target. He dominated the Newcastle centre backs on Sunday, both on the ground and in the air, and with a little more composure would have got on the score sheet.

Over a full season I reckon he'd be well capable of getting 15+ goals.