Everton learn price of Manchester City's James McAtee

I really like Mcatee. Good young player with vision, great touch and an eye for a goal. But I don't think he's the pacy RW that we need. He's probably more like Ndiaye in that he's tricky, a good dribbler (though not as good as Ndiaye) with a desire to come inside more often than not. Could work with a more dynamic overlapping RB but I'm not sure him and O'Brien would make an ideal right flank.

Maybe Moyes buys him with a desire to play him at 10 and Alcaraz/McNeill taking more of a squad role? £20m would seem a reasonable price for a player with a big upside.

At any rate it's probably more likely he'll end up at Leverkusen or another club playing in Europe.

This is another non-starter in my opinion.
McAtee has stated his desire to play Champions League football,and although he would certainly get more playing time at Everton,he will almost certainly end up in the Bundesliga.
I notice many of the names we have been linked with in the last few weeks have now slipped off the radar altogether.
Funny that,I wonder if it could have been just media talk?
Never mind,I’m sure we’ll sign enough players to field 2 squads in the next 6 weeks although having a meaningful pre-season might be a problem.
I think I may be suffering from a split personality,not sure whether I’m a realist or a cynic!!

Haha, Stu……just as I posted a response to your post on the Rumour Mill thread this thread appears. I was unaware he was not wanted by Man City, and there is interest from Germany, Italy and surprise surprise, Chelsea!

I’d like to know Thierno Barry’s reasoning behind him joining us, if he is also craving champions league football?

Rumours starting to build up now with Barry hopefully due to sign today and Hackney, Travers and McAtee whispers.
Expect we will be inundated with lots of possible signings over the next few weeks.
It's getting exciting even though a lot of it is utter rubbish.
COYB

He is exactly the type of player we need. He is an upgrade on most of the squad. If less than 25m then he represents a bargain in the modern day madness of exorbitant and ridiculous transfer fees.

I love Everton to sign McAtee, a player with genuine quality. Would fit on that right hand side very nicely.

I'm not questioning his quality or potential and I've no doubt he would be a great addition.

There are just a few obvious questions in my head.

How has the "dialogue" gone with City? Is that an approach by Everton, or is he surplus to requirements by City and has been offered?

Would he be willing to move to Everton, or, as some have mentioned, if he does move, would it be to a team on the continent playing European football?

And would it be a permanent move or a loan? I personally would imagine the latter if there is anything in this.

Stu (2) I think you are definitely a realist although the City manager wanted to keep Cole Palmer he couldn’t guarantee him enough game time to make him stay at City, I bet he regretted letting him go half way through last season when he saw how well he had fitted in with Chelsea and City would have been a lot better with him.

I think you are correct in that McAtee will join a bigger team than Everton with the slight hope he will want to stay in the North West.

I would like this signing.

As for a rumored transfer to Germany, why? When we have the best league in the world on his doorstep.

Get him down to the Dickory Dock and show him the project, he has to be impressed with what he sees, also he won't have to move house!

McAtee all day long. He's young, played at the highest level with Man City, won the England U21s Euros last month.

He can play of the right and through the middle. It's a yes all day long from me. I'd be greedy and ask Pep if we could also take Oscar Bobb on loan as well.

McAtee has only played 18 Premier League games, mainly as substitute.

I am not convinced by the “he wants to play Champions League” line for an emerging 22-year-old with so little first-team experience.

He is the good player, but we need pace in the wide positions as our fullbacks and wide men are slow.

Martin @9,

There is a long list of English league players who have headed to Germany and other countries on the continent to further their careers.

The style is different but it can be educational, as can the life experience.

I wouldn't underestimate the Bundesliga. Personally, I find the "best league in the world" a bit overhyped. Most successful, certainly from a financial and marketing perspective. But best? I would challenge that

I don't tend to rate the different leagues. England, Germany, Spain and Italy; they are all different.

In terms of relative strengths of different Eurooean leagues, the Premier League is clearly the strongest, in my view. What other league has teams that were 15th and 17th in the league competing in the second-best European competition with another winning the third tier and 8 or 9 potentially qualifying for those competitions?

Other leagues may have 2 or 3 genuinely elite teams in respect of winning trophies domestically and in Europe, the Premier League has at least 6 and arguably 8, with 17 competitive teams in the league each season, capable of beating the best in one-off matches.

They are just very different Peter.

La Liga is a lot more technical.

Serie A very tactical.

Bundesliga a mix between the. physicality of English football and technical.

Danny, you may not tend to rate the leagues, but Opta does: https://theanalyst.com/articles/strongest-leagues-in-the-world-opta-power-rankings-june-2025

They have the usual five European suspects as the five strongest leagues in the world. But they claim the sixth strongest league in the world is the English Championship! Hmmm…

Opta have Everton as the 26th most "powerful" club in the world. Again, hmmm.

The world of football just loves misusing and misunderstanding statistics.

I haven't said I don't rate any of the leagues, Ben. I've just said they are different.

Top 5 leagues in Europe:

1 German
2 Spanish
3 Italian
4 English Premier League
5 French.

Just read your last sentence back Ben.

With you on that. I'm not one for data or stats. I do enough of that at work. When it comes to football, I go off what I see and watch.

Paul @17, if pressed, I'd probably switch the Premier League and Italian Serie A around in your table.

Paul @17 - you are completely entitled to your opinion, however I wonder on what basis you make that list. What are the criteria?
Danny @14 - I completely agree with you that they are very different and in term of watchability they will appeal to different people.
My case for the EPL is based on the relative success of teams in the league in European competition against those of all the other leagues in Europe. It is very clear that in terms of overall strength, using European competition results as the criterion, that the EPL is the strongest. There may be (are) stronger teams in some of the other leagues (the usual suspects - PSG, Barca, Real, Bayern etc), but in terms of numbers of strong teams that demonstrate this with actual results in Europe, in my opinion, there is no comparison. EPL ahead by a significant margin.

Peter @19.

The list is just what leagues I enjoy watching most. I'd put the German second division above the Premier League.

Steve@11 exactly. It’s not just about getting good players. It’s about getting the right profiles to fit the tactics and other team members. As talented as he is I’m not sure he’s a good fit for our RW. Could play at 10 though? Or maybe an attacking 8?

Thanks, Paul - entirely fair!

The other angle to this discussion is the proportion of English players in the Premier League.

Without looking it up, I would guess it's quite low in comparison to those other leagues? So, aside from it being played in England, is it really English football?

All clubs recruit foreign players. Germany from Croatia and Poland for geographical and historical reasons. Italy also from Croatia. Spain has always had a tradition recruiting from South America, which makes sense linguistically and culturally.

But it would be interesting to see the comparison as to how many native players each league has.

I don't watch enough Continental football to judge different Leagues but I would tend to judge their strengths by taking repeat European (UEFA) competition winners over the last 10 years and then over the same period see how many different teams have actually won their domestic competitions as most seem to be won by the same teams over and over. That is, they produce good individual teams but not strong Leagues.

If we just look at recent years, rather than past history, then most of the leagues are the same.

Germany: Dominated by Bayern, but very competitive underneath that.

Spain: Obviously the big 2 in Barcelona and Real Madrid, with Atletico popping up now and then.

England: More recently has become a two horse race, despite talk of a top 6. Last season, Liverpool and Arsenal, but the neighbours were out of reach early doors by furlongs. Previously, it was between Liverpool and City.

Italy: Traditionally dominated by the northern powerhouse of Juventus and the Milan clubs. But occasionally, Napoli, Roma and Lazio make an appearance.

You are right though Alan. I know we all understand the rules of entry for competitions is known as we enter the season.

But I just feel the "Champions" League is falsely named and how a team can finish one place above the relegation zone and qualify for the so-called Champions League makes no sense to me.

Don't get me wrong, if it was us, I wouldn't be complaining, but if I revert to the football purist in me, it doesn't sit comfortably.

We do need three more ‘behind the striker’ players and I think McAtee has the quality. I don’t think he’s physical enough to be a Moyes player so I’d be very surprised if we signed him.

As many are pointing out, pace on the right wing is vital first. I’d buy one and loan another. We need a high class playmaker for CM and still need full backs on each side.

I’d say we’re down to needing 5 players to have a squad at all now. To have a good squad might need more.

Speaking of different leagues, I actually enjoy the A League and J league.
God honest football without the bias and nonsense that we see in the premier league.

I’ll give the premier league one last season before deciding if to stop watching it or not.
The corruption and favouritism are getting too much.
Not to mention bias pundits and commentators.
I’d rather watch it in ababic than listen to spitty harp on about his beloved media darlings.

There’s that many subscribed sports channels now it’s ridiculous and greedy.
Thank god for the firestick on non Everton days.

Danny (#23), stats suggest there were about 260 English born players in the Premier League last season, with slightly more from overseas/borders.

Germans in the Bundi are also about 260, with 230ish from elsewhere,

Serie A has nigh on 300 native players with just a shade more from elsewhere and in Spain there are about 470 Spaniards but less than 200 from abroad.

France, like us, are more or less 50/50.

Anyway, that's what the stats say!

So, we're all roughly the same then Don?

I guess that's just the nature of the modern global game.

Without wanting anyone to dig into more stats, I wonder how many teams have English players in their starting 11. I think Everton would feature higher than most. Probably about 50% based on the team that finished last season?

Irish, Ukrainian, 2 x Senegalese, Argentinian and a Portuguese born player who represents Guinea-Bissau.

Talking of which, there are 3 players we could lose for the African Cup of Nations in the winter for several weeks.

I don't understand this constantly offered suggestion that we need pace on the right wing. Under Moyes, we didn't have much pace on our left with Baines and Pienaar.

What we need is quality and this boy has it in buckets. He will score, assist improve our set piece delivery which has been pretty woeful. He is a class act and will be a number ten in time but I suspect with his lack of physicality, he will play on the right for the next few seasons.

Let's get quality first and we can always use the loan market for pace. We were linked with the Lyon lad Nuamah, Hutchinson, the boy at Villa – all have pace and have virtually done nothing for the sorts of fees banded about last year.

We won't get a perfect squad with the budget we have and areas to address but the likes of Barry, Luiz and McAtee would be really exciting.

I was thinking the same, Conor.

Much rarther McAtee than ‘pace'.

£20M-£25M would be a bargain.

Is he the sort of player we need for the right wing / forward slot? Not really. Ideally, we'd get someone like Bakayoko at PSV who plays wider and would give us an outlet for balls played in behind on the counter.

A trio of Ndiaye, Alcaraz and McAtee behind Barry would be neat and tidy but these are players who tend to come towards the ball rather than offer options in behind. We'd also be very narrow in the attacking third.

Does that matter particularly? No, not really. If we work on the basis that we're building a squad then we might be daft to turn down McAtee if we have the chance to sign him for peanuts (in Premier League terms).

But it would add to the importance of bringing in a right-back of real pace and dynamism to go on the outside of McAtee (or Alcaraz) and offer some genuine width.

At some point though, we would need to bring in genuine wing forwards of pace and ability. That is how we will kick on as an attacking force and it will also better enable us to play decent football.

It's hard to judge McAtee, he's played different positions.

Also, with Man City, so many outstanding players, he's played limited times, how can you judge him?

He's a Number 10. He could play right with a special right back behind him.

We definitely need pace on one of the wings and the left has two players that don't have it, so it makes sense that we want at least one very quick player on the right.

For a decent attack we need a range of skills and options. In Ndiaye we have trickery, in McNeil we have crossing and shooting and in Alcaraz we have a decent all-round attacker who looks to take responsibility. What we don't have at all is pace. If we don't address this we'll be much easier to play against.

For those three positions behind the striker, a decent squad needs at least six players giving the ability to rotate and make substitutions in games. We currently have three and if we don't sign three more, we'll struggle to produce the football we all crave.

I like the idea of him. See him definitely long term as a central attacking midfielder more than a winger.
Could work well in a 3 man MF.

He's not the finished article, however he's one who is definitely at the stage of his career where he needs to play now, alot like Palmer.
25m seems low, and I'd imagine there will be stiff competition for this lad.
Staying local not having to uproot maybe an advantage.
At least we are looking at the right type of player, if we get few at his level & Barry's level for 25-30m it's ideal.
Then can add a couple with experience to bolster the numbers.

McA has great potential, blues should be looking at him at the prices bandied.

Unsure of who should come in at right-wing… Weah, Doak? Free agent full-back cover available in Tagliafico (likes a moody tackle on his arse), Samedo, maybe 2 years max, Walker-Peters.

Moyes has probably already sewn up Coufal though. Hackney looks a good prospect at centre-mid.

Mike, if Coufal was sewn up wouldn't he be in now?

His contract ended 10 days ago and the team is back in training.

Sean (27)

Regarding biased punters and commentators have you ever watched games with the sound turned off? One of my grandsons used to watch some games with me on TV and he'd say to me “Aren't you putting the sound on Grandad” and I'd say to him “You go the match don't you“ and he'd say “Yes”. I'd tell him “You don't have any commentary there do you, so why do you want them here now?"

Pundits and Commentators are full of themselves trying to push their celebrities image on to people instead of just talking common sense instead of nonsense — imagine sitting next to Michael Owen, for instance, at a match with his non-stop gibberish, you'd soon fuck him off!

Dave, Bob Mortimer once said Michael Owen's voice was “like a haunted pipe, like egg white on flannel”!

McAttee reminds me a lot of Foden. Good technical ability and footballing brain but a lack of pace and physically leaves me unsure where their best position is.

But I think his quality will shine through and he'd be a great long term signing or a profit in a session or two. McAttee would have been ahead of Alcaraz for me.

However, Hutchinson probably has more quality to bring to the first team straight away, especially as a winger.

Both 4 times better than Harrison!

Have a word with Carsley and go with his opinion, ie, "If in 2 years you became Everton manager, who would you rather have... " or spend £50M on both?

Forest are in for McAtee which feels predictable.

They will be in for the targets we want to buy, with the money to do it.

If he is good enough he won’t need raw pace. Good full backs can handle pace but pure footballing skill and intelligence trumps it for me.

The problem recruiting any player from Man City is their ingrained 'keep possession at all cost' attitude has to be overcome. We saw it with Grealish it took him nearly a year to adapt to Pep's style and to overcome his desire to play opportunistic attacking play. Good footballer would he fit in.

Pickford
O'Brien Tarkowski Branthwaite Myolenko
Kubo Garner/Hackney Gueye/Iroegbunam McNeil/McAtee
Ndiaye/Alcaraz
Beto/Barry

If McAtee thinks Forest are a better long-term prospect for his career than Everton, he doesn't deserve to be here. So I hope he's got the sense to make the right choice. If not, then move on.

I've always liked Hackney from Middlesbrough although I've not heard any rumours that Everton are showing any interest.
Still, what do I know?

I really like McAtee but would much rather have Hutchinson if he is an option (and we can’t afford both). A front three of Ndiaye, Barry and Hutchinson looks very promising - with Alcaraz, Gueye and Garner as a central trio.

Both McAtee and Hutchinson are players with lots of ability and potential - both would improve us.

But, given the premium on transfers of young English players, my gut feeling is that we may get more value in the European market?

Until I watched him move inside and become a completely different player, I would have agreed with you Robert.

I thought Hutchinson, looked like a very good player for England in their European success, but watching McAtee, suddenly become faster, more alert and much more decisive, once he moved inside, I could imagine him building up a great understanding with players like N’Diaye and Alkarez?

Beggars can’t be choosers but I’d love to have them both!

Tony # 47, that’s why I prefer Hutchinson Tony - not because he’s better but because he plays wider. Like you I’d love both but I’m just prioritising a position we don’t currently have a player for.

As to Liam’s point about value - there aren’t loads of options for that RW position. Bakayoko and Roger are good candidates but the former probably wouldn’t be cheaper than Hutchinson and the latter needs more time to develop. If you want someone young who can step in straightaway then Hutchinson is a really good option

Travers on his way up for a medical. One backup keeper sorted and another signing.
COYB

Alan Ball's nephew…

Say no more!