Everton said to be interested in pursuing Antonee Robinson again

We can dream...

Andrew (1),

I could think of a million dreams better than having Antonee Robinson as our left-back!

Now you've done it Dave, Mike G will take you to task.

I like Robinson but not at such a fee.

Peter (3);

Yes, I realised that, but Mike hypes up those players he likes and Antonee is good going forward but not very good defending.

Nearly the opposite Mykolenko who is not very good defending or attacking, in my opinion of course, and Mike rates both of these players which is fair enough.

Who do you fancy at right back gents?

We definitely need a change at left back, right back even more so.

Newcastle showed us how important the modern day full back is to the team performance, they had two super players, defensively and offensively. We have neither.

We need the Moyes of old, delving into the Championship for the new Cahill, Jagielka, Baines, Lescott etc. There has to be some 'hidden' gems surely? Failing that, use the bloody squad/u21's properly.

Edward (7) Edward we’ve just delved into the championship, although Southampton have just got there for the umpteenth time, and got Dibling but he won’t be a hidden gem no matter how good he turns out to be—- the price he cost!, we got got service out of the four you mentioned and a huge bonus when we sold Lescott!

There is some left-back in the Championship who seems to be doing pretty well at Preston that I keep hearing about. Scores cracking goals to boot.

His name is Thierry Small, anyone know anything about him?

Peter (9),

Small's time at Everton consisted of a few years in the Academy and about 6 minutes playing for the first team in a cup tie that was well won.

That appearance was given to him as a sweetner to keep him here but, although offered good terms, he followed the money and went to Southampton where he never impressed.

He went Scotland, got sent off in his first(?) game there, and has been around a few lower league teams. He is now climbing the ladder possibly — he looked good going forward but wasn't very good defending — maybe he based his game on Antonee!

In all fairness, Robinson has hardly kicked a ball this season because of injury.

We don't need another injury-prone player.

He's 29 next summer, I am not sure he's what we should be looking for. No resale, injuries, big fee, big wages.

If we had money to burn, then yeah, an upgrade. But we don't have money to throw around without thinking longer term.

Go for DeSilva at Coventry instead!!

Peter (9) - "His name is Thierry Small, anyone know anything about him?"

Yes, he was the teen whose family couldn't wait to get him out of an Everton shirt.

Bounced around to no good end for a few years, then settled in League one as a regular. Preston NE signed him. He's First XI there and doing well at left-back.

Another Everton youth player, Lewis Dobbin, is doing pretty well there, too. Scored another over the weekend.

As did Tom Cannon at Sheffield Utd.

And Ellis SImms, a brace for Coventry, where it appears Frank Lampard has built the attack he tried and failed with us. They've scored 50 in 19 so far.

Ridiculous, £40M for a 29-year-old injury-prone who has played a grand total of 61 - SIXTY-ONE! - minutes this season so far. £40 million!!!!!!!! Decent going forward; not a very good defender. Avoid like the plague.

If this is the sign of TFG's second window priorities, then we are in trouble.

We need a right-back desperately and we need a striker desperately.

I didn't think to check his current injury record, Christy, so thanks for that.

It seems an odd one really. Usually these links pop up when there's context for them but there wasn't a peep about this when we played Fulham a few weeks back.

This now being a betting site, I Iooked for the odds on this one coming off... but no one is biting.

I'm a reluctant no on Jedi (his nickname) because he has not recovered from knee surgery, and it doesn't look like he will be back anytime soon.

The procedure was supposed to be a simple one, but it was for tendinopathy, not ligament damage, and that's unpredictable stuff. He's been out of the USA side for more than a year now, and two vastly inferior players have moved ahead of him for World Cup places.

It was sheer idiocy selling him for pocket change in the first place, but it's too late to remedy that now.

Dave #4, I still rate Mykolenko for his defensive work, and you have to admit his crosses don't suck as bad as they used to. But that's obviously a position requiring an upgrade for this team to improve.

As for Robinson, his pace and attacking were supposed to be what everybody here wanted! If healthy, he's the best left-back in USA history, but that's a very low standard after decades of comic stylings from the likes of Eddie Lewis, DeMarcus Beasley, Jeff Agoos, Frankie Hejduk and Fabian Johnson. Bet you never heard of any of them. I wish I hadn't.

I’d have Keane Lewis-Potter from Brentford all day, he’s great.

Mike G - how can anybody forget DeMarcus Beasley pointing himself down his shorts to do a wee-wee on the sidelines at the World Cup?

One of the finest examples of dribbling you could wish to see.

Peter, you're not just taking the piss!

There was also the strange case of having his car firebombed in Glasgow while he was at Rangers. According to one story it was revenge for him having bedded a mob guy's girlfriend.

Mike (18),

You are correct, I've never heard of any of those full backs but being honest I don't know much about international teams through lack of interest.

I still have a keen interest in Ireland since I was very young and Everton had a big influx of Irish players for many years then, but like Scotland and Wales, Ireland don't seem to produce many outstanding players these days.

Mylolenko is not for me, Mike, we don't have a very good right-back, Tarkowski is just coming back to his best form.

For me, I think because of those three positions, Keane is looking better than he really is. He still has plenty of those docile moments but gets away with most of them — I'd still have him upfront though!

Thiery Small is Everton's youngest ever player for the club, Peter.

He moved to Southampton for more wages and game time.
He's getting a game in Championship, just like Harrison Armstrong — same team.

This one is a good one.

Poor Aznou.

I am not convinced Mykolenko will sign a new contract. I can see him going Serie A on a free if we aren't careful.

I'd cash in and look for better.

Dave Abrahams comments tell me he really hasn't watched him play at all...but acts as if he has.

Robinson would be an upgrade over Mikky by a magnitudes. The speed and defense alone would be but he's so much better getting forward into space and causing problems.

25MM, 30MM, whatever it is, it would be money well spend and fix one of our long standing issues.

Bill (26)

No, I never act at all, just say what I think about a player I've seen many times, although never seen him for America so, unless you live in London, I might have seen him as many times as you.

That's a great compliment you've paid him — he would be an upgrade on Mylolenko! —- Speed doesn't only apply to your pace, it applies to the quickness of thought just as much and if you've watched him you'll have noticed he's not very good defending because of his lack of anticipation and quick thinking, he is better going forward as I said.

Anyway at 28 there is no resale value in him, even if he wanted to come back or if we even want him to and think we could get better timfixour long standing problem spot, in fact that player might already be here, the young lad we signed from Germany but I won't act as if I've seen him because I haven't — have you?

We let Robinson go when we had Digne and Benitez was manager.

Somebody (who?) gave the okay to buy Aznou but Moyes doesn't seem to think he's good enough. Dibling is also not ready for a regular place in Moyes's opinion. Barry and Beto are both struggling to score, they are okay players but with a Watkins we would score many more, problem is what's he worth now.

Who's responsible for signing these players? I don't think we know, do we? In any other business, they would be through the door.

Ray #28, according to Paddy Boyland of The Athletic, the primary person responsible for signing these players is David Moyes.

Boyland wrote about Everton's recruiting team this week:

In the absence of a director of football — a position Everton dispensed with after Kevin Thelwell's exit towards the end of last season — David Moyes has taken on a key role in the club's recruitment operation. The Scot sits on the transfer committee chaired by chief executive Angus Kinnear and has the final say on transfers, with his backroom staff often also watching and giving their opinion on potential targets.

Shortlists will be compiled by new director of scouting and recruitment James Smith, hired from Manchester City over the summer, and his team — with input from Moyes on the specific profiles he wants. Head of strategy Chris Howarth provides a data overview and apparatus through Insight Sport, the company he founded and sold to Everton's owners, The Friedkin Group (TFG).

Smith has been a regular attendee at Everton matches both home and away so far, with the scouts he manages doing the bulk of the groundwork when it comes to watching players at other clubs.

Negotiations with clubs and players are conducted by head of trading Nick Hammond, who counts Reading, Celtic, Newcastle United and Leeds United among his former clubs. Well regarded in the industry, Hammond has also been known to pass on useful market information. All moves need to be signed off by TFG.

The feeling internally is that left-back Adam Aznou, signed from Bayern Munich during that window, is not yet ready for regular Premier League minutes (the club pulled the plug on a deadline-day move for Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell this summer). But the addition of a right-back and Jarrad Branthwaite's return from a hamstring injury would add to Moyes' defensive options. [He] is expected back early in the New Year.

Oh dear, Mike I think you'll be a marked man.

You have just pulled the rug from beneath the feet of a gang of ToffeeWebbers who have told us repeatedly, based on nothing whatsoever, that Moyes was not responsible for the purchase of any number of the new players he has had this season. Why, even I had almost become convinced it must be true.

But No. This puts a completely different complexion on things!

This has got me thinking about Leighton Baines, who is definitely one of the best signings Everton have ever made under David Moyes.

Everyone will have their own opinion but I'd go with either Baines or Timmy Cahill, yet when Baines signed for Everton, he couldn't get near the team because Moyes preferred to use a central defender in his position instead.

Hopefully this is going to be the case with Aznou and Dibling, who will both feel like new signings if they can be integrated onto the pitch.

Michael, hahaha, yep it won't be the first time I've been blamed for something I only cut-and-pasted!

Honestly it surprised me a bit also that the final say is Moyes' -- subject of course to financial veto by Kinnear and Friedkin -- and that Smith and Hammond and Howarth are there to fulfill Davy's wishes. I'd have guessed it was more of a committee/consensus process.

But I'll say this, I trust Boyland's reporting more than anybody else on the Everton beat. Whatever he writes usually turns out to be correct.