Transfer Deadline Day

I can't wait to find out which players we manage to sign before 5pm.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Only one more sleep.

Basic was spell checker but l thought it looked better so left it. I'm hoping for a few easier names to sign tomorrow

Not been easy the last week. Its actually exhausting. I'm getting no work done and the house is a mess.

(He was getting half chips, half rice and curry sauce.)

Test out the Zouma waters, I wish he had the nerve of David Luis. Another forward needed, we have two kids upfront, one is unproven in the Premier League. If one gets injured, we are screwed.

Come on, Brands, it's not rocket science, we need a centre-half to dominate in the air to compensate for Pickford, plus another forward, or all the good transfer work so far will be pointless if we want to get from 8th to 4th.

I wasn't intending to mock Moyes. I actually felt sorry for the bloke. Every summer he'd be promised the Earth then have the rug pulled from under him. I remember one summer he was trying to get a deal done early. Didn't pan out but by Mid July he was explaining we had money to spend then but now we don't. As if someone had surprisingly garnished the clubs accounts in the interim.

Defense seems a bit more of a worry, but I do trust Gibson to step up this season. Luiz going would condemn any Zouma move. A solid 3rd/4th choice on loan is what we need, so I do think the Smalling move wasn't the worst actually, something similar would be ideal, with hopefully Mina and Keane developing a solid partnership and Gibson making the step up to the first team squad.

I wonder if a midfielder is still in sight, after apparently dropping the interest in Doucoure.

Cant wait for it all to be over and then the frustration of Saturday afternoons to ruin our Saturdays once more.

Onyekuru going doesn't have to be completed by 5pm tomorrow, of course ;-)

All in all I think this has been an excellent summer. The squad is being trimmed with quality additions (maybe even more) and a shift of the deadwood - while 6 first- team signings sounds a lot it creates some lovely competition for places. Yes the business seems hectic now but it seems planned with key areas being targeted rather than the haphazard spending spree two years ago (which admittedly brought in 3 key first team players in Siggy, Pickford and Keane (and I thought Rooney was a hit for the year he was here vs the money we paid)

Bring on tomorrow. Zaha and a CB will be a perfect window for me.

No other manager in the Premier League has got us consistently regarded and placed as top 6 with a net spend of around ٟ million a season and buying some of the best players we have seen in recent times such as Coleman, Jags, Cahill, Lescott, Stones.

I know he turned bandit when he left but his achievements for the club should never be undermined.

I actually think that deadline day should always be on a Monday and be declared a bank holiday.

How you doing Neil, hope all is well.

In regards to Umtiti... I don't think it's unachievable and would be an immense signing. I'm damn sure he would t cost the maguire premium !!

There have been some pretty ungracious words written about James in recent days. We do have some deadwood at Finch Farm. We do have some spongers contributing little or nothing to the cause.

James McCarthy does not merit being grouped among them. Never a player I personally warmed to myself, but his commitment and application (for me) could never be questioned.

His leg break accidentally getting caught by Rondon was horrendous, one of those 'look away now' incidents. I hope he is able to get a good few games under his belt in the autumn of his career so he can go out with a flourish, head held high.

Hopefully I'll wake up to find a bloody huge box with a decent centre back in and another with a speedy R winger (batteries included)

I do however think, there will be another couple possibly, but expect to see quite a few departures over the next two weeks, remembering of course that the European windows don't close till the end of the month.

I think we still need a proven goal scorer and left sided centre half

Leaving it oh so late yet again. No doubt it will be another season "in transition" with the players "needing time to gel"

Why do you care? It's not your money

As long as it's legal (ie within FFP rules) and doesn't impact us signing other players (and to be fair, it doesn't seem to be) then why do you care?

I don't understand fans treating Usmanov's/Moshiri's money as if it's their own

A solid CB be it someone on loan or an outright purchase has got to be the priority you would think.

40 million gets you barely anything these days. Look at what Newcastle got for 40 million. Someone barely heard of.

Off to work soon and will try and avoid keeping tabs on developing stories/gossip. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised when I get home after 5pm.

COYB!

The 75m we have offered is more than fair [ Arsenal valued him at 55m ]. There seems now to be no other serious bidders other than us , maybe a sign we are overpaying.

The player has been told he can leave if a competitve offer was made and the player has handed in a transfer request.

In the end Palace's best outcome is to agree to our offer which is fair and let the player go who clearly doesn' want to be at the club. The alternative would be detrimental to C Palace's season, Zaha's motivation, lower morale and flirting with relegation.

If ever we are going to stick to our guns it is now, no need to overpay and be shafted. If they don't play ball walk away and keep our 75m for future investment. [ps. not Iwobi]

Additionally I wont be crying into my pillow if we dont sign a player whose first choice was to play for Arsenal . Would we be just signing a mercenary who would want to be somewhere else when the going gets tough?

70m is more than fair! Throw in Bolasie ( I'm sure he'd like to go back) and all should happy!

Sanson is a decent player but would prefer someone more athletic in the middle. I'd happily take Iwobi for £30m but £40m is overpriced for him.

Tomori loan could be useful but they'll want to keep him now Luiz is leaving. Umtiti or Kimpembe could be high profile loans. Or Soumaoro is still available and is fast and strong and very capable.

3 more players in today? Buckle up!

It would shut those smug, bullshit-peddling fuckers up once and for all!!!

We need a centre half that is critical without buying yet another wide man.

Zaha spells trouble in the future to me.

but Lyndon, is the picture at the top the wrong person?

I would hope that today Marco Silva is working with the team, with the new guys coming in and getting everything set up for starting the season with a win at Palace.

Surely it should be a picture of Marcel Brands at the top of this article as he is the one making the decisions and doing the deals.

With a brilliant midfield addition also, and Signing one of the best young talents in the country. They are consolidating themselves as the 3rd best team in the league. Can't really see any weaknesses in their team.

Samuel Umtiti

They sent Zouma out on loan to improve for THEM, not for us. We helped develop him for THEM, not for us.

As an aside, we have Gbamin who can easily play centre half if required so all the shouting for a centre half, while I agree it would be good to sign one, it wouldn't be the end of the world if we don't.

Part of me thinks that was always the thinking anyway - Gbamin was bought as a utility player, hence Everton trying to buy Dacoure.

That would make sense why they insist on cash.

We should have loan to buy deals contracted only from here on in.

Also Rojo if he comes will surely just be for cover, its time for us to develop and bed in Mina.

Good shout though there, I hope Brands has explored the possibility.

As for Gbamin, I think we will very much need him in midfield where we seem to lack anyone else with athleticsm who can tackle. He's definitely been bought as a 6 and said so much in his recent interview.

Phil- excitement about Zaha is not based on a few spectacular strikes. He was the best dribbler in the league last year bar Hazard and created more chances from open play than Sigurdsson, Bernard and Walcott combined apparently. Looks like he's very overpriced but if he came he would guarantee to score/create 10-15 goals next season and we badly need those goals as anyone who has watched pre-season knows.

Smart money is going on us signing Rojo today.

Gomes, Delph, Gbamin, Sidibe, . Zaha

and Rojo on loan.

Thats got to be a good summer No?

The Mirallas contract extension really was mystifying. I could understand maybe a couple of years to keep his transfer value up but 5 years for a player who was no longer a first choice was plain stupidity.

I'd give Zaha a wide berth. All bells and whistles but little end product. Maybe Brands will surprise us all with a signing out of the blue!

Really hope these Rojo rumours aren't true. He's had 11 injuries since he joined United. 3 a season up until last season when he had 2. Surely there are better options than United's 5 choice CB.

Defence and midfield weaker. Well done brands

Respect your opinion but one thing I am sure we agree on. We both hope you are wrong!

A few saying they want Lozano but Bergwijn is what Lookman should have been.

He's 21, can play down both wings with ease, is direct, quick, skillfull, confident, unpredictable, a good crosser and passer with lots of energy and an eye for goal. He also tracks back and covers most of the pitch in game... what's not to like for half the Zaha money.

I think he could cope with the EPL after his displays against England and Barcelona. The latter of which may well come in for him at some point.

Lozano on the other hand reminds me of a young Mirallas (wide berth).

Getting excited now. This might become the best window in... decades?

"Brands is massively overrated."

Worra belter!

Attention seeking by chance, Ryan?

The players you bring in you want to be capable of challenging for a higher spot in the league (tick against all of these) and for small fees (tick against all that): Kean £25m!; Gomes £22m!; Gbamin £25m!; Delph £8m! All for little more than we recouped through sales.

What do you want, blood?!

My thoughts exactly. Everybody comparing this guy to Van Dijk, but apart from their skin colour, nationality and height they are two very different levels of defender.

Ake couldn't lace Van Dijk's boots. Van Dijk is one of the best in the world, Ake isn't even one of the best in the league.

Very sobering how greedy some clubs are becoming. £75 Million for the possibility of potential. When Bournemouth get relegated he'll be a lot cheaper!

He'd have to be having a medical by now surely?

1. Replace Gueye - We've got Batman - happy with that.
2. Sign Gomes permanently - Done, happy with that
3. Sign Zouma permanently or get a quality replacement - Not achieved - we are weak here - Rojo is desperation, we would be better without him.. If anyone - go and get Tarkowski - he worked well with Keane.
4. Sign a top striker - Got Kean - Pleased we have got him but we should not drop 15 goals onto his shoulders yet plus we lost Lookman - he will need time.

Zaha is the next option - but he is a winger. He scored 10 goals in 37 starts all comps last year. DCL scored 8 in 22 starts last year. Is he worth £80 million?

So from 4 key goals so far we have delivered on two with CB still not sorted and striker open for debate.

Kean may be amazing which I'm sure we are all hoping but I'm not sure we can say our first team is stronger than last season yet.

Other player brought in are back up/cover, as decent as they may be.

I'll take cover in the dugout.

Think outside the box a bit more.

Rojo I actually think is a reasonable option. We need back up, hopefully Mina and Keane will develop into a solid partnership. And Gibson is also ready to step up and looks a talent (de Ligt was ready at 18).

So all we need is a solid back up, ideally left sided. Rojo is that.

And quite possibly we'll get Zouma in a years time too, so no need to invest heavily now.

And I say againas I have so often this is all part of a strategy to get us to our best team for decades as we open our new home. Step by step.

Enjoy the ride folks. It will be great. And for us on TW make sure you take the statins!

Something in me water says we're still gonna go back in for Zaha today...

Dermot @ 140, it depends on whose fitted the Window, Everest or Safestyle 😂🤣

Height. Weight. Cough. Fill that bottle over there ("what from here?").

As for our friend.

FawltyTowers "The Germans:

"You started it"

Basil: "No I didn't. You invaded Poland". !

Don't always get all you want. Had we been offered Kean, Gomes, Delph and Batman, with Sidibe on loan at the start, think most here would have taken that. Especially for Kean.

Also got rid of McCarthy, Lookman and Vlasic on perm deals and shipped out Tarasha, Sandro and Garbutt on loan.

Not perfect but not too shabby a window.
Still got the likes of Bolasie, Besic and Mirallas to ship out but can do further deals till the end of the month.

Sky bias showing no limits

He has only had one straight red card in his entire career. Back in 2014 with Sporting Lisbon.

Yeah, a red card waiting to happen isn't he?

This is yet another fan myth.

1-with Minas injury doubts we need a player who tends to be available

2-with Zouma gone I have considerable doubts over our two especially as a pairing so our incoming centre half needs to be high class.

Mina we are all hoping will be a colossus this season but so far he hasn't stayed fit and not produced on his undoubted potential

Keane had a good season but I still feel that Zoumas pace and reading may have covered some of his weaknesses and I wouldn't be confident of a repeat especially as Mina won't complement him like Zouma.

IMO we should really be going all out for someone like Umtiti as I think he would complement both. I really think we shouldn't be looking at a filler in today.

Official manu stats 22 yellows in 79 games. That seems quite a lot to me and suggests he'll probably be getting a few for us (if he comes) which means he'll be suspended a few games too.

I also doubt refs would treat him the same wearing our blue as opposed to manu's red so yes, people can call him a walking red if that's their opinion.

We have a matter of hours to sign one, so it's either him or a 45 yr old me with a titanium plate in my back, 3 knee surgeries, 2 ankle surgeries and a succession of debilitating injuries over my career.

You decide!

Glad I was wrong.

The fact that he's only got two red cards doesn't conceal the fact that he deserved more.
Maybe these (below) were ok in your book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4e1fybottM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zth74j6WpNE

Rojo has played 73 games for Man Utd and only once has he made an error that led to a goal.

More fan myths.

Everton are discussing the possibility of a permanent move for Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo, Sky Sports News understands, having fallen short in their attempts to bring Chris Smalling to Goodison Park.

The Toffees did try to sign the Argentine defender last summer, but the deal feel through at the last minute.

Given the transfer window ends in less than 5 hours...

All I did was make the point that he is a red card waiting to happen and showed two easily obtained examples of tackles that he got away with. And he wouldn't have got away with in another shirt. My opinion.

This isn't Saturday's Live Forum and I'm not looking for a fight in the Car Park.

I'll leave that to you and Phil! ;-)

Sold lookman and vlasic for poor fees

People can nit-pick all they like, it's unrealistic to suddenly pick a player out of the hat that you like the look of. Rojo fits because he's available. I'm not his biggest fan, I'm just offering a little balance to proceedings.

I irritate people because I don't go "HE'S FUCKING SHIT" all the time.

"Rojo collected a staggering 15 yellow cards and four red cards during his previous two league seasons with Sporting - more than anyone else in the Portuguese Primeira Liga - marking him out as a man not to be trifled with.

Not only that, Rojo also saw red in the Portuguese cup against Benfica making it five reds in two seasons at Sporting."

I can think of 4 or 5 incident's off the top of my head when he should have been sent off in the Premier League.

* Reckless two-footed tackle on Gana
* Reckless two-footed tackle on Zaha
* Stamp on Hazard
* Reckless challenge on Willian
* Reckless two-footed tackle on Higuain

I doubt he'll get away with those reckless challenges this season with VAR in operation. He'll need to adapt his game (if he signs, of course. If he doesn't, I couldn't care less).

Rojo. Has. Only. Ever. Had. One. STRAIGHT. RED. Card.

Did you get it that time?

This time last year, you were all complaining about us potentially signing a Chelsea cast-off who'd just spent a year on loan and shitty Stoke.

Remember how that turned out?

They've offered 23m for him, if it is accepted I think Zaha will be signing for us at 4.59pm.

I'll take this opportunity to apologise for the other night. It was past midnight here in Aus and I'd had a small sherry with supper.

I didn't like you calling Calvert-Lewin ‘shite', but that's your opinion and I didn't need to bite like that. You have my apologies.

He has worked some magic for some players this window but clubs are now playing hardball.

It's been an excellent window whatever happens now. This is a massive change of style and clout in the market for us.

Edit: Now it seems that the initially reported loan may now be a permanent deal, which means I'm talking shit.

Think we could have also gone for either Scharr or Lascelles from Newcastle, both very good defenders.

I guess we wanted to see if we could get Zouma, as sometimes continuity is something you can't really put a price on.

Should have given Jags another 12 months, then gone after Zouma again

I like footballers who play it hard but I don't like players that put their fellow professionals at risk with reckless challenges and that is what I see in Rojo.

If it was up to me I wouldn't let him anywhere near a blue shirt.

Says a lot when Man U would hold onto Jones and Smalling over Rojo

What a depressing end to the window

Fuck me that's an exciting prospect!

Gana gone and Zouma gone.?

We've spent money to just stand still.

If a medical was booked he wouldnt be anywhere near training.

You see what I mean.

As Uncle Bill used to say, "always leave em wanting more".

Smalling, Jones & Rojo are all available for transfers.

No loans though permanent deals only.

Where have you seen that? Everything I've read says the exact opposite. He hasn't been training with Palace at all.

Sky Sports specifically says he is NOT training with them and the Palace website says nothing about it.

well said mate, I think it has been a good transfer window, better than we have seen for a long time. If we get Zaha (which I don't think we will now) then that makes it a great window. Rojo will be a good back up centre half.

Now if that were true, we would be up in smoke.

But Zaha - 10 goals last season. All of them away from home except one. Brilliant counter attacking but when teams park the bus at GP he will be useless. And if we are meeting our ambitions, then we will see all but City, Arsenal and Spurs parking the bus because to the rest getting a point off us will be as good as a win.

In other news, Everton have clearly never seen Marcus Rojo play football.

(not my quote)

Assuming Kean doesn't start Saturday, we will have two new starters to open the season, Mina and Gbamin. Are they better than Zouma and Gana? Certainly not at the moment. Is Sidibe better than Coleman? Unanswered question. We assume Kean will displace DCL and improve our attack, but he's 19.

And Rojo is no longer an Argentinian international. He was cut from their Copa America squad. Funes Mori was selected over him. Which tells you all you need to know.

Mike, do you really think signing Kean hasn't strengthened us up front?

We ended the season really well. We don't need a dramatic overhaul. We just needed a decent striker, and maybe a different option in midfield. We've managed to offload some deadwood, hopefully we'll get rid of a few more before the end of the European transfer window.

We look like a team who has a real chance of cracking the top 6. We don't need anyone else now.

Fans getting hyped up then pissed off due to the 'victory' or 'defeat' of the window the need for a buzz.

At the start of July, most on here we're going mad at the links to wingers and defenders "we need a striker ffs" "if we only sign a striker I'm happy" and comments of the ilk were repeated.

Now, the failure to sign a winger who's been way over priced and a back up defender and suddenly it's the end of the world, we're shit again and Brands is crap.

Come on. We have an excellent new striker, a promising new midfielder, we have a quality competition for Coleman, we have international quality competition in midfield, and a premier league ready back up keeper.

Our squad: England no1. 5 international defenders, plus 2 highly rated young centre backs and an experienced ex-international left back in reserve.
3 international midfielders and one of England's best young midfielders for 2 positions in the middle. We have last seasons top scoring attacking midfielder. We have a Brazilian international forward, an Italian International forward, and an former Brazilian international attacking midfielder and an England u21 striker.

Our squad is much better than it was, we can challenge Chelsea, Utd, and Arsenal for 4th.

One more forward would be nice, but I am still excited for Saturday! COYB

On the flip side, I really believe Gana's departure is a major blow. Never having seen Gbamin, I have no idea whether he can fill that hole or not. As for losing Zouma, I'm a huge Mina booster and I think he will develop into an improvement on Zouma, but again the time frame is an unknown.

So overall, no, I don't think we are starting the season with a better 11 than we ended it. Much better bench with the likes of Sidibe and Delph, but not the starters.

I would say flatly that no, we are definitely not "a better side without Gueye". And I'm pretty surprised you think so.

The club has unfortunately lost Gueye but replaced him well but in the centre half position we haven't been as proactive.

I have no doubt Gbamin will be a huge hit and Marco made all his defenders better last season so Rojo might do a decent job but in the short term we are much weaker defensively no matter how well they settle.

Of course if we sign Zaha to go with Kean we are going to be serious going forward but many Evertonians are expecting a top 6 finish this season and I'm not sure there is enough improvement for that to be realistic.

How many points did Arsenal finish ahead of us and they have bought well addressing some key weaknesses in defence while Pepe will transform them going forward.

Thank god for common sense.

No news on Saha or Iwobi but I will be happy with what weve done so far.

Disappointed Watford signed Sarr who should have been an alternative to Saha.

Nothing to see here.

Our main Striker is a 19yr old untested in the Prem. Compare that to the Gunners attacking force for example and even they finished outside the top 4.

And yes, I may be wildly optimistic about Gbamin but I think I can rely on my man Brands to have done his homework on this one.

Sky Sports News have been told by Crystal Palace that their business is done and Wilfried Zaha is staying at the club.

He will not be signing for Everton in this window.

(probably not)

We need a centre-half for sure. Whether that's Rojo remains to be seen. I would also expect the lad from PSV to come in now as the Zaha alternative, as Silva wanted a winger, and perhaps he will be as good as Zaha, but costs a third of the price.

If we make those two signings, it should still be a very good window, particularly if we sell Besic. There's still two weeks to flog more of our surplus players to Europe.

Incidentally Siggy is not one of my "favourites"... I just defended him recently against the Bernard-in-the-middle idea, but I do believe we will eventually need an upgrade there. If we can find one.

We have had a very good transfer window and Brands needs to be congratulated on shipping quite a few out as well as prising a promising Italian international from Juventus.

Richarlison is a year older and wiser with the experience of Cooa America glory. He is now a seasoned international and will make further strides this year. He'll hit 20 goals, that I am confident of.

DCL has also developed further, at the start of last season was a bit part youngster, by the end was getting in the rhythm and proving an excellent cog in Silva's system. Big year for the lad.

Gomes has his confidence and fitness back and is ready to push on.

Bernard has a year under his belt and will be much the better for it.

Pickford will be better for being away from the spotlight, which did impact on his early season form post WC histeria.

Keane back to his confident best.

Coleman is fit, and we have international quality competition.

Siggy will be confident after enjoying his. most productive season.

Davies is a year older and wiser and some off the pressure should have come off his shoulders.

There is much to suggest the first 11 will be better, football is more than who you buy.

Oh, and one of Europes most exciting teenage strikers.

There is much to be excited about

Zouma is a Loss,
Gueye is a loss but Gbamin should be OK, however may take a bit of time to settle.
We all wanted a striker. Lost Lookman but got Kean - Kean a better player I think but will need time.

The big questions we will all want answered are:
Can Mina deliver what we all thought he could last year?
How quickly will Batman take to settle in?
Just how good will Kean be - can he get 15 goals?

Our other back up players that we have bought make the depth stronger.

Finally the biggest question - Have we improved more than Leicester, Watford, Wolves, Arsenal, Chelsea or Man U?

If we want top six we have to finish above 4 of those teams.

Question for discussion - which teams do you think we have improved more than?

PS - still an hour and 10mins to pull something out of the hat.

Oh wait! He's just re-signed for Man City as..."a loanee player liaison agent", whatever the frig that is.

And some on here complain about 'jobs for the old boys' at Finch Farm.

Thankfully just another hour of this nonsense to endure before we can evaluate what we will start the season with. Allow for a few hours for bureaucratic details to be hurdled over for any late, late signings. Didn't we all go to bed at midnight one year, thinking all the business was done only to learn on waking next day that Fellani had been signed?

With Lookman it will always be like what Brazilian Philosper Neymar said: "Saudades do que a gente não viveu"

Bit of anticlimax to an otherwise very good window. Overall I am pleased that we didn't fold and pay the ridiculous fee being asked for Zaha, I think to have paid it would have set s dangerous precedent and is simply not Brands way of doing things.

Reports around that we had deal set up with Chelsea for Tomori on loan but David Luiz scuppered that.

I still think we need a centre back and winger so we are not reliant upon Walcott and Holgate/Gbamin as cover. Time yet although looking very unlikely now.

Looking forward to the season and a lot to be excited about with some very talented players added.

Very happy that Rojo not Zaha are coming for the money requested. That also makes a statement - we are not stupid, we do not have unlimited funds, we will not be ripped off.

The real test of how well we have done will be come February if we are 4th and 11 points better than last season - then we did right. If we are 7th and only 3 points better = ah well, if only.

From Bernard and Gomes, however, I would expect only incremental improvement. They are what they are.

The X factor in attack for me is, oddly enough, Mina. The way he goes after free kicks and corners, I really think he's capable of a Lescott-esque goal output, and that would really change the picture for teams trying to defend us.

I think we all hope Kean will be the striker we were missing last season.

I think we'll see similar numbers from Sigurdsson and Richarlison and hopefully Kean can hit the ground running.

I need a fix man. just something, anything!! I'll give up tomorrow I promise!!!

Just a fringe player or two will do. It doesn't have to be anyone major. I can quit whenever I like!

I am hopeful on Mina too. He looked excellent in Brazil this summer.

We also started last season with an injured Coleman and raw Kenny as our right back. Now we have a fit and confident Coleman and a World Cup winner. That is real improvement.

This time last year there were questions about Siggy, now there are much less and we know he is effective and will score.

Bernard I agree is probably at his peak, he's good for 5 goals, will stretch the opposing defence and make space for Rich and Kean/DCL. But an improvement on him will be priority next summer.

I'm gutted. I wanted this.

This signing, when viewed in the framework of Chelsea's Lampard team with a transfer ban, Arsenal with no defense, Man U being a mess, and Spurs pissing off Poch, is a disappointment to me - by any metric.

Yes, we didn't over spend. Yes, we probably should have walked away. But the message of intent would have been massive. It was exciting. And the prospect of a front three of Zaha-Kean-Rich was mouth-watering.

Our new barometer for the upcoming season is the Everton, Leicester, Wolves, West Ham race for best of the rest.

God it's just so disappointing.

We've lost our best defender from last season and as yet, not replaced him at all.

We've sold our best midfielder for a relative pittance by today's standards. Despite the buyer being one of the richest club's in the world. We've brought in an unknown quantity to replace him.

We've finally replaced our most prolific goal scorer in the premier league era with a 19 yr old who targeted 7 goals (!) this season when asked in an interview. That's less than DCL got last season.

We've dicked about offering Cenk Tosun to Palace for weeks when they've made it obvious they only want cash for their star player. Why didn't we just walk away days ago and pursue someone else?

We've let exciting young talents like Lookman and Vlasic leave without giving them a fair chance and then put in higher bids in for players that are worse like Iwobi.

Absolute joke. Anyone got Steve Walsh's number?

Gotta be worth a try.

We signed him? I knew I shouldn't have slept in so long.

Call me naive but I don't think this was a Michael Owen/Alan Smith style bid. I actually believe we genuinely had the money available for this.

I'm still optimistic moving forward into the new season. We are most definitely a CB and goal scoring midfielder short.

However, Richarlison can play RW, as can Kean.
DCL can be a target man, flicking balls around the corner to the above pair. I think it'll work.

No depth or pace at CB is gonna hurt us. Though Holgate will be delighted if things stay as they are!

Zaha would have raised that expectation.

We definitely have improved our squad overall... Brands has done his work well.

I'm just not sure I see it pushing us much higher in the standings. Yes, Chelsea and ManUtd are more vulnerable, but I think our fellow 15-game winners Leicester and West Ham have improved themselves too. Tielemens, Perez and Haller are game-changing signings.

Best thing is that the new players will have a chance to bed in. We face only two Top 6 sides in our first 14 games.

We have a very good blend available right through. We must back ourselves and we must stop flapping before we've kicked a ball.

Sums up the past 5 days even Kean signing dragged on.

Marcel Brands or not it's a pretty flat way to end the window and we know silva doesn't buy in Jan.

And can't wait for the trip down to Palace on Saturday. A new season. New signings. Lots to be excited about.

I'd persist with Holgate on pace alone.

Not the greatest of windows, but not as bad as some suggest.

Silva's got his work cut out. With a substandard central defence will he be here by christmas?

Rojo... FFS!

Prediction 7th... 6th if we're lucky.

Not the greatest of windows, but not as bad as some suggest.

Silva's got his work cut out. With a substandard central defence will he be here by christmas?

Rojo... FFS!

Prediction 7th... 6th if we're lucky.

Strange how when Zaha looked unlikely no one else was in the frame

Where was the plan B?

We don't always agree, Christ knows.

I've never agreed more with you - bitterly disappointing.

You're spot on.

BREAKING NEWS

Newcastle confirm Andy Carroll's return to St. James' Park.

Welcome home Andy!!

We get it, you are not happy.

Personally I think its a great window, getting rid of a lot of the dross, bringing in some quality players and refusing to pay silly money for players who are worth half of what their clubs were asking.

We have a lot to be optimistic about and with loan signings still available to us I am sure further reinforcements will be brought in.

God I'm at wrist-slitting levels if he's the "consolation prize".

Zouma wouldn't be an improvement as he was here last year so he would have been a status quo thing as opposed to getting worse. Also, Zaha's 10 goals, 10 assists. Presumably he would be playing instead of someone else so you'd have to subtract their figures to determine the net change. So it isn't as if he would get 10 goals and assists on top of whatever the palyer he is replacing got.

Jesus people are depressed. Really fall for the effing transfer window bollocks. Over hype at its worst.

Our squad Ian quality. There are weaknesses, but there is quality all around the pitch.

Now it is up to Silva and co to get them working. Top 6 is a real possibility. As is silverware.

Fucking Bipolar this site. 1 week ago everyone going mad because Zaha isn't worth it, saying how weee overloaded on wingers.

Now Zaha doesn't sign and it signals the apocalypse is nigh.

3 minutes to go thank god. Now we can finally talk about football

Jesus people are depressed. Really fall for the effing transfer window bollocks. Over hype at its worst.

Our squad Ian quality. There are weaknesses, but there is quality all around the pitch.

Now it is up to Silva and co to get them working. Top 6 is a real possibility. As is silverware.

Fucking Bipolar this site. 1 week ago everyone going mad because Zaha isn't worth it, saying how weee overloaded on wingers.

Now Zaha doesn't sign and it signals the apocalypse is nigh.

3 minutes to go thank god. Now we can finally talk about football

Can we still get loan signings? How long for?

I'm happy we have got rid of dead Wood with more to go.

At least we been trying to sign players even with £70-80m bids.

Sadly it just wasnt out window in the end and the players we wanted who could make a difference just not available.

Glad we didn't go out and spend £100m on a few squad fillers.

Zaha would have been a game changer. Happy with the board.

Think Keane and Mina will be ok if they can both stay fit.
Holgate will have to be back up simple as that.

I sing myself to sleep
A song from the darkest hour
Secrets I can't keep
In sight of the day
Swing from high to deep
Extremes of sweet and sour
Hope that God exists
I hope, I pray
Drawn by the undertow
My life is out of control
I believe this wave will bear my weight
So let it flow

Lots of love Jp 😂😂😂

Zaha was a massive statement of intent. And he would have made us so much more potent in attack. He was the difference between excitement and hope, and another 7th place season of what could have been.

How do you say? Everton that!

Saying that's bipolar?? Nah. It's personal analysis and opinion.

And you can say that and still recognize it's been a good window. It doesn't inherently mean you're negative.

For me, at any rate.

TY for that. Talked me off the ledge!

Think we're good for a good challenge for 6th.

Well hang on while I nip outside to catch it.
BTW could you throw out the charger as well?

I hope to God you're right.

Frank - bril.

FUCK RIGHT OFF! We've agreed a fee for Iwobi.

Jesus, WELCOME SON LIGHT IT UP M'MAN!

Oh my word...

Pickford
Coleman
Keane
Mina
Digne
Schneiderlin
Gomes
Sigurdsson
Bernard
Calvert-Lewin
Richarlison

0-0 my prediction.
Looks very similar to last season doesn't it? My guess is that Silva will be slightly disappointed with our business but hopefully we can get a couple of wins early whilst we bed in the new players.

Had we had a Deadline Day bonanza of signing Gomes, Kean and the other players we brought in a few weeks ago, people would be saying what a great final day in the window.

A lot of surplus players have been moved out, we have added to the squad.

The only downside is not getting a centre-half in, but now leaves the door open for Mina to step up. I would rather that, than Rojo panic buy.

Overall, we have added a right back, three midfielders, a striker, and cleared out some on high wages just sat on their arses.

I would not be downhearted.

Up from 54 last season?

I'd be careful about using the word "bipolar"... sounds like you're on the manic upswing yourself right now.

Iwobi and Bernard for left wing, who knows, maybe one of them will
Learn how to shoot.

On the other hand, I have yet to meet a Gooner who rates him. In fact they say much the same as they say about Walcott - he flatters to deceive.

So... is he an upgrade on Lookman? I reckon a fairly massive upgrade, at a net cost of £15 - 20m. Could be worse. And he's young, so we should be able to offload him in a couple of years for £15m or so. So he's cost us nothing.

But 㿔M for an attacking midfielder who scores one goal every 600 minutes is insane to me.

Tim Locke - we'll assault the Top 4 and CL place with Iwobi and Walcott on the wings! Now pass that crack pipe over here! ;0)

Ahhhhh! See everyone on Saturday morning, full of false hope.

Can Silva simplify his game? Better than many of us think.

I've a lot of Arsenal mates and they never question his ability just his decision-making.

However Iwobi is not Walcott, mainly because unlike Theo he has his best years ahead of him. I'm optimistic that he will be better than many in here will expect.

Then we have Zaha who a lot of people on here were unhappy about paying 㿞 million for. The more the price rose, the louder the percentage of fans saying "sign him." 𧴜 million price tag and it looks like we've about two-thirds saying to do it.

My point is, maybe we all just get caught up in hysteria and media-driven hyperbole. Maybe, actual football experts like Brands, and money men like Ryz have to see what makes sense from a football and business perspective when they negotiate deals? So maybe we should accept the hand we are dealt and get behind the new signings?

Now we can't stop talking about transfers and get talking about Tactics and Silva again.

Let's get the ball rolling: Farke for Everton Manager.

With regard to Zaha and Iwobi. We are in a crazy time with prices and we just have to pay up or walk away. Crystal Palace kept moving goal posts and changing valuation and we walked away.

I actually like Iwobi... (yes, I'll put a tin hat on) He's nearly 4 years younger than Zaha and will get better. He's hungry and an upgrade on Walcott and Lookman.

Let's not let a slightly disappointing last day overshadow a very good window. And now focusing on getting rid of the deadwood to inferior European leagues.

Not a bad signing IMO.

Zouma would have been great to have signed but, as Steve Ferns rightly pointed out, why not get a decent centre-half in on loan, way before the final day deadline came up? That's the biggest disappointment for me; however, let's see what we can do this season.

We have Holgate.

We will beat palace on Saturday and everything should be right again. (He ays with his annual dose of new season optimism...)

Alex Iwobi fee around 㿏million. Everton only made one bid for Wilfried Zaha of 㿠m which was rejected on July 28. Would have only gone to 㿨m anyway and Palace wanted more. Refused to do Marcos Rojo on a permanent.

Joyce twitter, usually on the money ITK.

Forever Everton.

He's a team player, which Zaha isn't, and he's 23 so he's nowhere near his peak and he has resale value. And it's not my money.

I think he has a lot of ability and his attitude is really good. Getting away from Arsenal will hopefully reinvigorate him like Gomes last season.

Yes, he doesn't score enough but has good assist rate and his cousin Jay Jay certainly improved with age so let's hope it runs in the family.

Centre-half is the worry but I'm glad we didn't do the deal for Rojo.

"My Arsenal-supporting mates are absolutely cracking up! 😔"

Maybe so but remember when those insightful Gunners fans used to boo Ramsey every time he was on the pitch. He was a loser too but that seemed to change.

Could be worse.

Deal sheet on the table according to SSN is £35m, we had a £30m bid rejected yesterday. £35m is half what we were prepared to pay Palace for for Zaha. Is Zaha twice the player Iwobi is? I don't think so, which means we were being overpriced by Palace and walked away. Hey ho, we've saved £35m and got ourselves a winger to provide competition.

As for the player himself, was he first choice? No, obviously but all sources said he seemed open to the move if the bid was accepted as opposed to Zaha saying he wanted to go for CL football, which would have suggested he'd be off at the first sniff of a top-4 club. So we get ourselves a player who wants to be here, at least.

Skill/quality wise I think he's a good player if not a top-end one. Will he provide another option for people to focus on? Yes, he provides a number of assists even if his goal return is questionable, but that means he does need to be marked closely which frees up more space for the likes of Kean, Siggy, Richarlison and Gomes. So actually having that option can be beneficial for us.

Overall it's a risky signing at the fee quoted but such is the market and looking at some of the prices other players have been bought for, might just be decent value for money.

㿔M NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

BRANDS YOU IDIOT!!!

100% Panic buy...…………….Zaha to Iwobi Jesus Christ.

Mid table below Wolves and West ham it is then.

Given that we have effectively funded Zaha for Arsenal in Jan makes this 100x worse. I despair.

Our second most expensive sig n ing in history. Read that again!

"brilliant Silva was in the process of turning the likes of Holgate, DCL and Davies into super-stars."

There are limits. Holgate, Davies and DCL have had two seasons to step up. They didn't hence the need for better players. We now have those for all three. Such is football. Can't wait forever. Sometimes facts have to be faced. Davies, DCL and Holgate are squad players only.

Zaha does not belong in that exclusive band of players. Yet with the clock ticking, like some frenzied Black Friday Deal, some fans were salivating at the thought of signing him, howling for the club to pay whatever it took.

I'm personally glad we didn't.

I'll wait for the TW hysteria to tire itself out before reflecting more on exactly what we go into the season with, expecting more outgoings be it on loan or actual sales before all windows close.

But from what Silva and Brands inherited barely 12 months ago to where we are now, progress following a structured strategy is clearly evident to me, if not others.

Well said, things were well and truly out of hand.

But his age has something to do with the price. At 26/27 he will be worth more hopefully, so it is an investment on someone who could develop further.

Brands and Marco must see the potential in him, he has never caught my attention too much as a top player.

Anyway, he is a blue now by the looks of it and he gets my 100% backing to come good for us.

Here's hoping.

And let's be positive. A fast and skilful winger, different to Bernard and a great deal of potential for our staff to develop.

How ways Zaha doing at 22/23? Exactly. All players can improve.

In Brands we Trust

I give you Alex Iwobi a player so good the Gunners couldn't wait to get rid £40M!!!

Liam @422, 2nd most expensive signing on paper, but ask yourself what would Sigurdsson, Pickford, Digne, Richarlison go for today?

Now calling Brands 'an idiot' it seems, I do despair of our fanbase at times, I really do.

Be interesting to see how it's viewed by some pretty unbiased pundits over here.

Since then he has played 147 games and scored 31 goals.

Iwobi has 11 goals in 110 games - so a similar, but slightly better rate, as Zaha at the same age.

Let's give him a chance hey.

Still think it's way too much money to pay for him, but hey-ho.

I'm made up with Kean but that's it for me, a sub Right Back, a cheaper midfielder than Gana. Delph is good but can we rely on him to play as often as Gana? Nothing against Gbamin but if he's better than Gana then why didn't PSG buy him?

Where is the Centre Half we desperately needed? Where is the centre midfielder he needed once the supposed bids for Doucoure got rejected?

It feels like Silva is another manager short-changed and everyone on this thread knew we had to spend up to 𧴜 million to stand still and not lose anyone from the starting 11.

Anyone on TW?

Doesn't matter who it is, an ACL tear is a horrible thing to contend with.

This genius has just got us a 19-year-old striker and no centre-half.

Time to big up every blue - make them feel 10 feet tall and give them unswerving backing.

COYB!!

One player short, is how I see it for a tilt on the champions Lge, and even if we swapped Iwobi, with Zaha, I still would have felt the same way.

It's soon going to be 25 years since we won a cup, but we've signed a lot of players who have won things this summer, so surely we are on the right track.

Brands – aka "Jesus Christ" in your eyes – has left us with no Zouma replacement and sanctioned 㿔M on Alex Iwobi………

Hysterical maybe.

But at least I can call this for what it is — a right royal fuck-up!

Link

People are so quick to condemn.

No, we won't be top 4 this season, and no, we won't score 70 goals (sorry, Fran), but the progress is undeniable.

We signed a 23-year-old, highly rated Nigerian international, who... OMG, still needs to improve his game

Wish we were Man Utd buying all those world class players like.

And my god, West Ham just bought that lad from Basel, we're screwed.

And Leicester, something talk about Leicester, they signed that Belgian lad whose mint on Football Manager, can't remember how to spell his name... but they are the best team in the history of the world now.

And Chelsea have got a strike force of Giroud, Pedro, and Abraham... how on earth do we even think we can cope?

And don't get me started on Arsenal... They signed a winger... who cares if we only heard of him a year ago and before that was a reserve player... he's the new Pele. And who cares that they sold their best player over the last 5 seasons and didn't replace him, they bought calamity Luiz, who Sky are telling us is better than anyone ever.

And Wolves, what about Wolves? (Seriously... what about them?)

When – not IF – Mina goes down injured, we will be royally up the creek.

Really pleased with the transfer window we've had. We've signed players at good ages, for sensible fees... Only Iwobi's fee (if the transfer goes through) might seem a tad excessive. Would've liked to see us sign another centre-back but it will force Marco to give Holgate (who is a more mature player now) and Gibson more playing time. It will be interesting to see if they can step up to the plate. Thought Holgate had some excellent games for us in the past and people on here only seem to remember his bad games.

I think Iwobe can improve. Of course he can. He's young and talented.

The disappointment is seeing some of the big boys ripe to be picked off, and Zaha coming into a wicked front three with Kean and Rich, and making an immediate impact.

Iwobi will need time. And the window to nick the Big Boys may very well close.

That's my disappointment.

But I still do inherently trust Marcel. And we'll grow and improve through the years with him puling the strings.

Glass will be half full come Saturday. Let's punish a weak early season schedule and see where we go from there.

Cheers to all. Back to work.

Only Everton could have £100m to spend and over 12 months to try and get a centre half on a permanent deal. Instead we wasted far too much time chasing Iwobi and Zaha then panicked when we realised Zouma wasn't happening.

The tremendous work done by signing Gomes and Kean has now been offset by our failure to land Zouma or another centre half of quality with pace. A very poor end to a excellent start of the window.

Honestly think the centre half issue will cost us 2-3 places in the league.

Expect City, Liverpool, United, Spurs, Leicester, West Ham, Wolves and Arsenal to be ahead of us.

Great these debates.

Iwobi is better value than Zaha.
I'd rather have Holgate than waste 㿅M on Rojo.
Kean looks very exciting.
Delph will be the canny top-level pro we've missed since Barry.
Sidibe a canny year-long replacement; if he's good, we buy, plus we can bring Jonjoe back.
Gbamin looks a good replacement for Gana.

And there's the chance of more off the wage bill in the next week or so.

Silva wanted 5 players, Brands got him 6. The pressures back on Silva to deliver.

He is a 23-year-old, already with a lot of experience at a higher level (more than most of our current players), with no injury record and his best years still to come.

It's funny though; people were arguing that Zaha's price tag could only go down, what about this lad's one?

I believe this to be a very smart addition that will be a profitable one; given the ratio of fee, potential and performance of the player. Who was Zaha at 23???

It starts on Saturday and time will tell.

Is there a point to your question?

The opinions that matter are those of Silva, Brands and Moshiri as the underwriter of any purchases and recruiting the players to best serve both the short and long-term strategy.

If recruitment was decided by TW popularity polls we would have a squad of 120, of all ages and (in some cases) dubious playing history.

I'll leave those decisions to the more calculating, the better-informed honchos at the club, rather than a few dummy-spitters posting in anger on TW.

Only £100m!! Trips off the tongue as if it's peanuts.

As Daniel would say - Fuck off.

The quality has dropped a level again and regardless of how good it is signing young players, usually they need loads of time and its another waiting game for Evertonians until they become good then sold and we repeat the process.

It's been a solid window for us with players who can cover a multitude of positions:
Gbamin - plays CDM and CB
Delph - plays across entire midfield and can cover LB
Kean - Striker or wide attack
Gomes - MF
Sidibe - strong RB cover
Potentially Iwobi - wide attack and MF cover

Some of the fees could be questioned but that's the market these days. Just because we have some money doesn't guarantee that we just go out and get anyone we want.

From what I have ascertained from some fan comments on TW this week:

All Man Utd's defenders are crap.
Lukaku is someone no one would welcome back here.
Iwobi, like Walcott, is crap.
Delph is a loser, as is Stones.
Barkley was an overrated loser.

How is it then that the teams these losers play for finish above us every year? Is it because they play alongside other "winners" like Mustafi, Ashley Young, Giroud, Sanchez, etc? Or the every reliable positive influence Pogba? The prolific Pedro?

But I would have the same reservations about Zaha especially for the fee quoted. Brands and Silva have backed themselves to eek out improvement in the player and with his age and experience I don't think it's a huge risk in terms of resale value.

I would have had doubts over Zahas team ethic and wanting to jump sooner or later. For me Iwobi has the right character.

He may not be everyone's cup of tea but he is an uncut diamond and that's the profile Brands promised

He had 12 months to sign a centre half permanently and failed to do so. It's the exact same excuse people levelled at Steve Walsh that we needed a centre forward but he was too busy haggling over the signing of Gylfi. I think Brands has swapped the striker problem for centre half problem and replaced Iwobi with Gylfi in this window (figuratively speaking of course).

Those who disagree are fine to do so, but I love how everybody telling the doubters to stop whinging or crying are unable to justify why Brands failed to land a pacey centre half. Unfortunately right now unless Mina lives up to his hype then people like Daniel Johnson are right.

Let's hope myself and Daniel are wrong come May when we are bladdered after lifting the FA Cup with a Yerry Mina header.

Gomes – Retained so no change there then for the team.

Djibril Sidibe – Not back top his best since a serious knee injury and competition for Coleman, so will he even start?

Gueye replaced with Gbamin, we have lost arguably the best performing midfielder last year for peanuts and his replacement is a total unknown quantity in the Premier League.

Fabian Delph – talks the talk but likely to injure himself during the walk, a mouthy injury-prone squad player at best.

Kean – An exciting unproven 19-year-old who's going to be our goal scoring saviour? He could be worse in the Premier League than Lookman and Calvert-Lewin for all we know.

Alex Iwobi – an uninspiring Arsenal player no one really wanted and one they were happy to let go (must be a massive talent then). Yet we let Lookman and Vlasic go?

Zouma – gone no replacement and this is the travesty here where is his replacement. In fact his lack of replacement is a fucking disgrace…..Marcel hang your head in shame for this. When the glass man Mina breaks again we are fucked.

The squad hasn't improved at all. Mark my words, the lack of replacement for Zouma will kill us next season. So annoying as once again some teams are there for the taking but typical Everton we miss our opportunity to try and get in amongst them.

Kean and Gbamin look super young players and great value. 㿏m for Iwobi less ٣m from Lukaku sale so net of 㿊m seems decent to me. Brands has shifted a lot out with maybe more to go and in my view has done a cracking job.

Alex Iwobi vs Wilfried Zaha - why the Arsenal man is being linked with Everton

Will he provide more assists and goals than Bernard? The answer is yes, obviously. Arsenal sold him to balance the books. Thats fine with me. We've bought him for now and for his potential.

Iwobi, Kean, Richarlison
Not bad. They will take time to gel, so what. 23, 19, 22. Next few years will be fun. Can't wait for the season to kick off. And to see how good Kean, Sidibe and Gbamin are.

To answer your question, Brands failed to land a center half because there was no one better than the players we have that we could afford, was available or was willing to join Everton. It is pretty simple really. Outside of Zouma who exactly is there that you would have wanted as a surefire 100% guarantee? Tarkowski has as many critics as fans. The Man Utd lot have been dismissed. Lewis Dunk? another supposed 45 million CB who is regarded by many as a donkey. City spent millions on Mangala and look at him? according to TW Stones is no better. Arsenal spent tons accumulating the likes of Chambers, Holding and Mustafi. Are they better than we have? I would say no. So yes it is unfortunate we have limited coverage at CB but we do have 3 CBs with PL experience, 2 of whom were expensive signings, one of whom is a highly rated young player. If they ALL get injured simultaneously, we have a 30 million pound midfielder who can play CB, as well as two under 23 players one of whom looks steady, the other potentially a future star. So it's not the apolcalyptic situation you portray.

Arsenal must be laughing all the way to the bank after Walcott and now this!

Pickford / stek. Pickford / Lossi
Coleman / Kenny. Coleman / Sidibé
Digne / Baines. Digne / Baines
Zouma / Mina. Mina / Holgate
Keane / Jagielka. Keane / Gibson
Gana / Schneiderlin. Gbamin / schneids
Gomes / Davies. Gomes / Davies
Richarlison / Walcott. Richarlison / Walcot
Bernard / Lookman. Bernard / Iwobi
DCL / Tosun. Kean / DCL

Successful or not?
Weaker defence
Weaker midfield (although Gbamin is unknown)
Wingers the same
Stronger attack.

I don't doubt your sincerity but perhaps things go on in the background that we are unaware of. Danny Mills was a revelation last night on ssn talking about all the shenanigans that go on during transfers.

I expect City, LIverpool and Spurs to be ahead of us, that is the only certainlty that exists.

Utd just sold their best goalscorer and now rely on the unreliable Rashford. Martial is a player, but then they are dependant on youth. Pogba is a quality player who doesn't want to be there. Then the rest of their midfield is average. They signed a quality, but very young and as yet untested right back, and Maguire, who is of a similar level to Keane. There are huge question marks over the tactical astuteness of their manager.

Leicester have signed well, but they remain dependant for goals from the ageing Vardy. Perez is a good player, but will never be prolific. So their difficulty will be can they score enough goals? Because we all know what Brenda is like, great going forward but weak at the back. They just lost their best defender and didn't replace him, that could hurt them badly.

West Ham? Hello? West Ham? If to do an Everton is a verb, then to do a West Ham is the superlative version. Haller? Know nothing of the guy, looks like a standard 10 goal target man. Anderson is Anderson, looks great on MOTD but wins very few games, there is a reason Richarlison was in the Brazil squad and Anderson wasn't. Then what? honestly, can't remember, apart from that Ukranian who was crocked last season. And they can't defend. West Ham hahaha.

Wolves? Why? Welcome to 2nd season syndrome. They'll do well to stay in the top half. We ahve improved, Leicester have improved, Wolves have? Did they sign anyone? Do you really think Jiminez will take his half season of good form for an entire season this time round? neither do I. Nah, not worried.

Arsenal...I'd say they are favourites for 4th, Pepe is an exciting signing (but there is a chance that last season was a flash in the pan - remember Cisse at Liverpool, stormed it in France, flopped in the PL). They have 2 great goalscorers, but no real system to accomodate them both. They lost Ramsey, their best player for the last 5 seasons, and didn't replace him and their midfield is still weak. Torreira looked great then burned out, so big question marks. Tierney is a good signing, but Luiz is getting older and, well, my time in Brazil always makes me associate Luiz with the dreaded '7-1'. And 'to do an Arsenal' is something I taught my students in Brazil.

You forgot Frank Lampard's Chelsea so what of them? lost their best player, signed a player who has no guarantees in his place. They have good players, but look weak and are there for the taking. Their strike force is the worst of the top-6, maybe of the top-9. Giroud, Abraham, Pedro, William - where will the goals come from?

So I think on balance, we have a good chance to battle for 4th, 5th, and 6th place.

Just my opinion

Let them both be carried round the training pitch upon sedan chairs.

I'm begging you Marco, Just keep them healthy.

Nor am I sure that the anyone who ran the club for the last 25 years was a 'well-informed honco' - I could think of lots of other things to describe them as though. You obviously back Brands and Silva as the real deal, but deals like 㿔 million for Iwobi create scepticism.

Brands is there because hes got to know a list of players he can go for regardless of anything but the manager needing him.

Moyes had a far better system than anyone at the club now with less money to play with.

No fee but apparently Welbeck was wanting a 5 million signing on fee and a multi-year 120k a week deal. While I like you think he may have something to offer, I think the economic aspect considering his injury record ruled him out

I would add too that I believe that if M&M truly believed that we needed a CB back up and it was clear that Zouma wasn't coming, they would have had other targets on their list and we would have got one or other of them - even if it had been the fourth choice name.

The fact we haven't satisfies me that they are happy with their choices and current back up available.

Time will, of course, tell us if they are right.

But, it is their jobs on the line and we must therefore leave them to make those decisions.

Who is "telling the doubters to stop whinging or crying [and] are unable to justify why Brands failed to land a pacey centre half...?"

On the contrary, I read plenty of balanced posts acknowledging we have potentially left ourselves short at centre back. Brands is NOT getting a free ride on that one.

But in contrast to Daniel's strop (and if I was with a child throwing a similar wobbly in public, I'd be embarrassed) they acknowledge not only that failure (and it is a failure) but also the good work done in this window, and over Brands' 14 short months at the club, all the more so given the situation he inherited.

It's called balance, Paul. Daniel (and others) have not just tipped over the edge. They've plunged head first over it.

I use those examples because I am trying to find out who it is that we should have signed? Brands is under no obligation to sign someone for the sake of it. Yes if we had no CBs that would be a problem. But we do have 5 on the books with varying levels of skill/experience and a versatile CM. Ergo, he doesn't need to sign anyone if his list of availables includes no one who is a)better or b)affordable.

Get back to playing FIFA...

Is everyone saying theres no other Dacoure in the whole of Europe we could have got for 35 million?

What happened to him wanting another midfielder?
How can Silva feel satisfied he got his targets.

Unfortunately, life isn't so simple. I honestly trust Brands to get the best deals for Everton. Let's sit back and enjoy the start to the season as we can't do any more.

If Brands and Silva think they can improve Iwobi, and that he can become a top-quality player, then I am willing to trust them.

I will not proclaim him to be this or that, but the lad is young and shows good attributes, and his signing certainly has not weakened us (as some proclaim). Let's see what happens. But we certainly have options, we have a young team, with a lot of pace, and many players who offer different things. This is something I can never remember. Let's be positive.

This season is there for the taking

I don't think it will be as apocalyptic as you think I'm trying to portray. Like Daniel and a couple of others, we leaked poor sloppy goals as a team last year. We lost our best centre half in Zouma and Our ‘destroyer' in Gana Gueye. I praise Brands for swiftly going after Gbamin even if he is a gamble at least we addressed that issue swiftly.

My concern is that Zouma was not replaced or bought permanently. Therefore we are weaker in that area. Balance it out with improving our attack with Iwobi and Kean then I fully expect a few 2-1 or 3-2 defeats due to scoring goals but also conceding more than last year.

With that being said, in regards to (Frans comment IIRC) about who could we get better than Zouma, I'm sure if we wasted less time on Zaha which seemed almost impossible and put about £50m to £70m as rumoured from Zaha to a centre half, I'm pretty sure we could of got ourselves a tasty centre half, maybe even Zouma himself. Instead Zouma stays as Luiz seems to be going to Arsenal. That deal would never of happened if we went all in for Zouma.

Just my opinion of course. Your only defence now is that we all hope Mina does the business over the full season.

I just want to see Everton clearly sign better players the manager needs. Not nurture and talk about how good they'll be in 3 years.

Been through all that Mr Brands Fan.

and now noone questions it.

I wouldn't say he was ever a player that I wished was in our team, but if he does indeed come then I think he will at least be a good acquisition - and could possibly be an excellent one.

So let me get this straight.
Palace sell Zaha to Manure. Manure sell Zaha back to Palace and Palace have to pay a sell on fee, that wasn't cancelled out by an original sell on fee?

Bend over, trousers down, sign this.

" Instead Zouma stays as Luiz seems to be going to Arsenal. That deal would never of happened if we went all in for Zouma."

How do you know that? Lampard said on day one he wanted to keep Zouma. He has been playing him in all the preseason friendlies. Luiz is older, and seeking a last big payday. It seems to me that Lampard actually plans to utilize Zouma and not just to annoy Brands as some kind of payback for not offering a ludcrious sum for him.

As for ‘playing fifa' it is effectively brands job to do just that, for a hefty wage I might add. So those saying to trust brands are right but he isn't bulletproof. We all agree we needed to sign Zouma permanently or replace him with quality and pace - Brands failed in this regard.

Brands job enables him to play fifa in real life and afford him the time, pay and resources to do it full time. So yeah I'll get back to playing fifa, it seems we must all worship brands because you say disagree.

I thought we got rid of the Rennie ignorance when Uriah the ref retired. Seems not

You seem to want instant success, but that's very difficult these days unless you're in a select group of mega-money clubs. Personally I'd get much more satisfaction from nurturing young talent, and if it doesn't work, we can always go back to the great old days of the recently departed fat bastard.

Iwobi is 23, in 4 years time he will be the same age a Zaha. Brands and Silva think they can see his potential and improve him. So it may come good, I think we have to give them a shot of proving it rather than writing it off so soon. We need to have a bit of faith in the player and in the management.

Our defensive frailties last season were down to woeful organization at set pieces, that was a problem of the team as a whole, which seemed to get resolved as the season progressed.

So it isn't ideal, but in Mina, Keane and Gibson, Holgate I think we have good enough quality and nothing to get depressed about.

We don't really know if they can form a partnership,one has to stay fit and the other in my opinion will have to prove himself without Zouma.

The only pace we have is Holgate and the club were talking about selling him for 8mil according to reports.

The only left footed option is a kid who Silva has described as not ready.

Options could have included Sanchez (sub at Spurs) or Umtiti who Barca want to sell or whoever Brands wanted had he not put all his eggs in the Kurt basket.

I really did think that Man U PR department has duped Everton . It not for the want of trying.

So...what are you suggesting, exactly?

That our recruitment this summer was all random?

That since they arrived at Everton Brands, Silva and their staff did not continually and fully evaluate their existing squad and identified how best to improve it?

That targets that fitted the desired profile were not methodically scouted, researched and approached in the desired order of preferred player?

That once approached any deal should be concluded immediately?

That there were just single targets, rather than fallback options, identified by the club?

That the recruitment in the last two days is just panic-buying of players who simply were not on our radar on Tuesday?

Because that seems to be what you (and others) are suggesting.

If so, it's not a theory I subscribe to.

It's been a good window. It could have been better.

We go with what we have.

Truly gutted about zaha, its totally deflating. Probably a good thing not paying all that money for him actually you just get obsessed when purchasing things and go above and beyond any realistic valuation and the same happens when bidding on stuff on Ebay!

Happy enough with the squad we've got.

Just to put it into perspective, we've signed players from.
Juventus, Barcelona, Arsenal and Monaco this summer, not the worst places to be buying cast off's!

Anyway less of the disappointment of the final day, we all got carried away, think most of us will be happy with the squad. Think only team who stentghed really well was Aresenal out of the teams above us excluding spurs, city and liverpool.

Ake for 80 million? Dunk for 40? Would that really improve us so much? Why not trust Gibson as a back up?

"the two we are relying on haven't played together," The same would be true if we had signed anyone.

Makes very little sense to me. Silly money for a rank average player. 5 goals a season kind of player. I don't see that he'll offer us anything at all that we don't already have

As Kieran Kinsella fairly asks, Lampard didn't turn us away out of spite no, but what most managers do with most players is say they aren't for sale because either A) they don't want to lose them. Or B) they will sell for the right price, of which saying they aren't for sale means we will have to pay a fair whack for the player in question.

As soon as you say a player isn't in your plans you will never get what you truly want for them unless you really don't want them.

Anyway back to my original point, Brands has done well but his hard work has been offset against the glaringly obvious gaping hole that we all (including brands and silva) agree on, that is we needed to buy or replace Zouma - which he hasn't achieved.

We still need a left sided centre half and more importantly we still. Need a goalscorer

We have kean a young lad who may or may not adapt to the PL and appear to have put all out hopes on him

We still need to shift a good number of players off the wage bill

Just want to have a bit of hope people, give these lads a chance FFS

As I mentioned before:

Between 2013 and 2016 (up to the age of 23) Zaha had played 140 games and scored 13 goals.
Since then he has played 147 games and scored 31 goals.

Iwobi has 11 goals in 110 games - so a similar, but slightly better rate, as Zaha at the same age.

Let's give him a chance hey.

I ain't gonna proclaim anything, havn't seen enough of him (or Zaha) to trully comment. But the idea that Iwobi is crap and Zaha is God seem a bit OTT

The legend that is Mo Besic has signed for Sheffield United. BUT, alas, just another loan deal - his THIRD in succession - rather than for a fee.

Maybe buying Iwobi is a ploy to get zaha in january, they get iwobi and £35m and cenk haha

enough of writing iwobi off now will get behind the lad, was nice of him to want to move to us anyway no messing around there literally jumped at the chance.

So that's good.

cant wait to roll palace over on saturday! COYB!

I don't think Kean will be played through the centre from the off.

He will be introduced wide as a sub for a few weeks. DCL will be starting through the middle, the lad needs a good start and it may be the making of him.

As it is I think the window has been somewhere between decent and good. Only time will tell. But certainly we look short at the back to my eyes and the likes of Holgate and Gibson will have to step up when called upon.

As for Iwobi, he will surprise alot of you sceptics I suspect. He got 0.24 assists per 90 minutes last season which was one of the highest in the league. He works hard, is solid defensively and creates a good amount of chances. He's a probably a better (though different) player than Zaha was at the same age. PLus he has a huge amount of PL and European experience for a 23 year old. The price was too high for my liking but the player could turn out to be a very good fit for a team that struggles to create chances from open play.

Umtiti has had an injury ravaged three year spell at Barce so it is possible his wages relative to injury could leave us exposed. No idea if Spurs are willing to let Sanchez go but at least you have come up with some suggestions as opposed to others who just seem to want to spend for the sake of spending. As I said though, the CB situation is not ideal but if you can't get better then is it worth bringing in someone different who has other potential drawbacks. Would you trade in a low mileage car with a broken AC for a high mileage car with a dodgey transmission if you aim was to get a new reliable car, and the only new cars on sales were out of your price range Ferrari's?

But I feel Mina and Holgate are under rated and this cloud has a silver lining.

The window is an 8 for me, especially as we managed to shift so many players.

Gradually we are making room to add more quality.

Apart from not getting the centre back I think we had A very good transfer window.

Fans are having a go at Iwobi before he has even played for us, some quoting his lack of goals, well Richarlison scored five in thirty six games for Watford, not many would part with him now.

A few players have been sold on or loaned out, some most fans wanted rid of, a couple more will go before the end of August, again players not wanted at Everton for one reason or another.

Let's see how the team/ squad performs this coming season and give them a chance before going all gloom and doom, we could be happy at the performances, although that is unlikely with a couple I could mention, definitely born on a Wednesday, full of fuckin' woe.

The fact is, Chelsea were already down two senior CBs before Lampard arrived -- Rudiger injured, Cahill released -- and were always likely to lose a third when he was hired because Lampard and Luiz famously despise each other. So Lampard's statement that he wanted Zouma to stay can safely be taken at face value.

It's also a fact that Zouma has always openly considered himself a Chelsea player and wanted to be a starter there.

I've predicted here many times, literally from the moment Rudiger went down, that there was zero chance Zouma would stay at Everton, and there was nothing we could do about it. I'm sure Brands gave it his best shot, but I remain convinced that there's no way he could have possibly "ensured that we got our man."

I think we will become more disciplined in this area with the Players we have signed, and it wouldn't surprise me if Silva, has signed Iwobi, to also play in a central position?

I'm glad the window is shut anyway, and hope that Besic gets his third loan move in 3 seasons. We can't get shut because they must be on very good money, and if the rumours were true Wilfred would have been on over ten million a year.

A sport we all love, a club we love even more, but fuckin hell, I honestly feel sick thinking about the wages most of these players are on. It's truly sickening.

The fee? Okay, well last season when we signed Richarlison, I spent an evening with a load of gooners who ripped the piss out of me about how much we overpaid. I'll see those same gooners in the next couple of weeks and they'll rip the piss out of me again. But not about Richarlison. They won't mention Richarlison, will they? And I reckon in another year's time, they won't mention Iwobi either. He'll do a job for us, in my opinion.

The fact that they couldn't get a replacement collapsed the deal.

Michael #559, agreed, he's nothing resembling a crap player -- in fact I believe his passing skills will eventually move him into the starting 11 ahead of Bernard -- but the fee did knock me for a loop. However, the point you and others have made about Richarlison's fee is a very valid one.

Lev #566, yes, the Echo article (first linked here by Sam) does provide some serious food for thought.

"For the last 3 weeks Zouma and Tomori were the only players mentioned."

Mentioned where? In the press? Twitter? Apart from Silva responding to loaded questions from journos about Zouma who was here last year, I haven't heard anyone at Everton say anything publicly about any targets. I did hear it mentioned in the press that we variously offered just one bid for Zouma, that we had a second of 60 million also, that the second was cash plus Mc and Tosun, or that it was 70 plus Mc or Tuson, or just Tosun. Today I hear we had one conversation with them on July 28th and that was that. All these conflicting stories cannot be true. There was really nothing about the French RB until the day before he flew in for the medical. Likewise, Delph seemingly came out of nowhere. Therefore, it is safe to assume that we had other behind-the-scenes talks with other players that never made it into the papers as no deals were agreed. Meanwhile, every journo and kid on Twitter has been creating or extrapolating on the same few tired old rumors. Lack of public activity isn't proof of a lack of private, professionally conducted activity.

Zouma was never coming back as Lampard rightfully saw what he did last year and kept him. To be dogging around bidding for people right at the last minute is pathetic when you consider the work that must have gone in to identify targets.

Gana and Zouma have gone with only one replaced. I really like Keane and Mina and hope that Holgate matures this year as we are going to need him.

Going forward we look really good but at the back something has gone badly wrong with this year's planning.

For example the whole Tomori rumour was IMO (or assumption if true) born from Brands being told Zouma was 3rd choice in which brands may of thought ‘okay that leaves Tomori as 4th choice' so let's look at the possibility of that deal then?

In any event I said maybe a week ago on the Zaha thread that we should put all our effort into the centre half situation. You can't tell me that Rojo and Smalling were legitimate targets surely? More like panic buys to address the Zouma replacement situation.

Main points to take from this are:

Brands and Silva failed to land a centre half.
We wasted time chasing Zaha and then Iwobi (I'm okay with Iwobi signing as he can improve)
We reportedly had £52m on Zaha which would of gotten us a decent centre half instead
Every player has a price and most managers say their players aren't for sale even if they don't want them. Reason is that you will be offered lower fees for a player you don't want.

Almost.

We're looking a little light in terms of pure firepower, particularly if Kean needs time to settle, but I'm not overly concerned. I also have every confidence that Kean will prove to be the real deal.

Most will fixate on the centreback situation, and draw comparisons to 2017. The difference is, we literally didn't have a starting striker heading into the 2017-18 campaign - we had an untested Sandro, an extremely green Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Niasse, who was still in exile, as far as Koeman was concerned.

Right now we have a good (potentially very good) pair of starters in Keane and Mina (you can argue how well they suit each other, but that's a separate discussion), and decent - not great - cover in the form of Holgate and, supposedly, Gbamin. A string of injuries and we could be in big trouble, but at the moment it's hardly a crisis - and last I checked, our defense wasn't the issue this preseason.

At the moment, our optimal lineup is looking like --

Kean
Bernard/Iwobi Sigurdsson Richarlison
Gomes Gbamin (possibly Delph)
Digne Mina Keane Coleman/Sidibe
Pickford

I mean, that's a pretty darn solid starting XI. We're better stocked at some positions than others, but Brands can't assemble a perfect squad overnight.

Iwobi for £40m smells like a panic buy ala Walcott but will reserve judgement until he's played a few games. Still, can't say I'm doing cart wheels with that one and would be amazed if he was one of our main targets at the start of the window.

Not getting a CB in after having the whole window is appalling. They've known a CB was vital for ages and should have had multiple back ups incase Zouma didn't work out. Everyone knew about Chelseas transfer ban and Rudigers' injury so there was a fair chance we wouldn't get Zouma. The last day panic for Smalling and Rojo points to us having fucked up here.

Am really happy with Kean and Batman but not overwhelmed by Delph and Iwobi (combined £50m before wages). Not getting a CB in is criminal given we lost two senior ones over the summer.

Have Digne in my fantasy football team, think I may be revisiting that with Keane and Mina as our two CBs for the season. If we play a high line, any team with pace will tear us a new one. With those two at the back we'd better score more goals than last year!

Still also have Mirralas, Bolasie and Niasse kicking about...another 3 weeks to try and shift those I guess.

So maybe he's being bought to give a bit of competition to not just Bernard but also Siggi in the long run?

Come January I see Everton getting Zaha and Daucoure, as long as we stick our bids in early doors instead of final weeks.

All in all not too bad a window, time will tell.

For me the strategy was wrong not just the delivery.

I'm not all gloom, we have bought exciting youngsters but those predicting a fourth place finish now are the same ones who will be calling for the managers head when we are sitting seventh.

Fran- you believe we can challenge Utd and Arsenal yet the former don't have mourinho who had everyone down tools and Arsenal have improved both their defence and attack so you reckon our squad has improved minimum 15 points on last season.

I hope you are right

He will have made up a list of proposed targets & backups & the prices he was willing to go to.

Some players were never going to be available ( Zouma ) that's why we were offered Tomori but that fell through when Luiz went to Arsenal. But is Tomori better than Gibson & Holgate?

Zaha would have been a good signing but only at the right price, talks of 80-100 million are far too much for what he is. Rony Lopez, Hakim Zyech, Steven Bergwijn, Hirving Lozano & David Neres would have been better purchases at less than half the price quoted for Zaha.

Alex Iwobi looked very good in Afcon this year. He is at the right age & he must have been on the list of transfer targets in the first place. We have yet to know the exact price we have paid for him. Remember they paid 72 million for Nicholas Pepe.

Only time will tell but I think we have had a reasonable transfer window & have dodged many bullets. There will be targets for January but that's not to say they will be available & at the right price. Samuel Umtiti was quoted at 80 million by Barca when teams were interested.

He was one of the better performers in a very inconsistent Arsenal team last season. I think at this stage of his career he needs to play regularly, and I think he'll do well for us. If his presence means that Walcott plays less this season then I reckon that's already money well-spent.

Great that for a fan wanting slow success or none at all, all you Brands fans must have calculators in glass cabinets and on the mantel piece at home.

Your suggestion is silly. Firstly we couldn't go "all in before" the window opened as you can't buy someone outside the window. Secondly, when the window opened Chelsea were legally fighting the transfer ban. There was a belief, for several weeks that it may get overturned or delayed. Thirdly, there was the protracted saga of whether their manager would stay, then when he left the saga of replacing him. Then finally, the fact that Lampard would want to assess the squad before sanctioning sales. With all of that said, there is no way Chelsea would have given a definitive answer at the start of the summer. We waited, hoped, and found we couldn't get him or anyone equal or better.

I am sure there arent that many CBs that would fit us the way Zouma did last season.

I am disappointed and concerned we didnt get a "Zouma" quality replacement but otherwise delighted about what can be considered a very positive window.

I was disappointed that Gana went but at almost 30 and listening to the compliments that Gbamin gets we may have bought better and younger. He certainly carries more goal threat.

Up front we all went on about DCL's inability to put the ball in the net and brought in one of the worlds up and coming strikers who has been coached and played with the likes of Ronaldo.

We have also beefed up MF with the arrival of Delph and further enhanced our front options with Iwobi.

We have all gone on about Seamus getting older and losing the extra edge he had so we have brought in a French world cup winner as RB.

We brought in reinforcement as gk.

The other players brought in Gomes we had him on loan last sesason, Delph. brought in for cover for midfield, left back ?. Sidibe, brought in for cover for Coleman, may replace him, and Lossl backup keeper. Iwobi if we sign him is another winger who is either a backup player or will replace Bernard or Richarlson. That leaves Kean who we all hope, me included, will provide us with. the type of striker that we have needed since Lukaku left.

So my concern is although we have improved the squad with some very good players, going on the last number of games played at the end of last season, we have brought in 1 player who will most probably get to start, and I player to play for someone sold. So basically we have the same team starting from last season minus Zouma.

Are we entitled to every Tom, Dick, or Harry? No.

Are we entitled to think we'll sign a player whose valuation has been met, and who put in a transfer request with his club to come to us?

Yes.

Are we entitled to think said player will elevate us above the typical 7th / 8th place? Yes.

Are we entitled to be disappointed when none of that happens?

Yes.

Thank you Keith! Have a great day!

If we go through another spell of, what was it, 3 points from 10 games or something dreadful this season then Silva will be given his marching orders. So just an improvement of 15 points from not having that dreadful mid season slump is the minimum.

Utd don't have Mourinho, but do you really think Ole is gonna last the season? Once the new manager bounce had passed his tactical skills were there for all to see.

Utd didn't invest again, so they sell Lukaku and replace with Greenwood basically. Utd are there for the taking. Arsenal are favorites for 4th, but I think we can challenge them, and 5th place should be our minimum target and would be a great achievement with such a young team.

Luiz only went to Arsenal today and was totally off the radar until the last minute, apparently due to a bust up with Lampard (if the rumour is true). We were apparently told a while ago that Zouma wasn't available so I don't think Luiz going to Arsenal has anything to do with us not signing a CB.

I'm 100% convinced at the start of the window neither Smalling nor Rojo were on any list of targets for a replacement CB. If they were we would not have been looking to sign them at the very last minute, especially as Manu already had 6 CBs before they even signed Maquire.

We cocked up at CB this time, for whatever reason, but no club can get every transfer right. Just hope Mina works out now given the jury's still out on him. Half a season to get through till the next window so he better at leat stay fit!

Put things in perspective. Our last three windows have been great and we are going in the right direction, at last!

Looking back it's not a bad window. The players brought in are winners. I'm still made up with Gomes and Kean and I believe that Iwobinio will add something different.

Gbamin reminds me of a cross between a young Vieira and Olivier Dacourt.

As for defenders Moyse had it harder and made Europe with less so lets see how good Silva really is.

An initial 28m for a 23 year old who can improve. He is coming into his prime and may prove a few people wrong. Nobody saw this one coming in June, but Marco Silva and Brands must have been scouting him back then and see great potential.

Give him a chance.

Mike I'm sure you agree that we should of addressed the CB position well before even thinking of putting all our energy into Zaha? When we realised we weren't getting anywhere it appears or I'm assuming again that Smalling, Rojo and Tomori were kind of panic buys. If you don't agree then surely you can at least see why I think that?

And they have a world-class manager. The top-3 is a closed shop this season, and if Arsenal get things flowing, the top-4 could be too. But Arsenal are Arsenal(their midfield and defence is still too weak I think), and the jury is still out over Emery.

Or are we embarking upon a season where DCL misses opportunities, Iwobi just can't finish, Bernard delights but also can't find the back of the net, Kean needs to get up to pace and learn the Premier League way of life, and a 7th place frustrating year asking what could have been while the top boys are in a vulnerable position?

I'll watch the ride and cheer like an obsessed freak all season long.

Vlasic - £13.5m
Gueye £30m
Look man £24m
Henry £14m assuming this goes through
McCarthy £8m or was it 3?
William's and the few loan fees we received about £10m?

between £85-£99m in. not 100% sure on the figures.

Money out.

Gomes £23m
delph £10m
Kean £27m
Gbamin £23m
Iwobi £28
Sidibe £2m loan
£113m
so about £20m net spend.

Not too bad considering we got a lot of the dead Wood off the wages as well and will continue to do so between now and end of the transfer window.

Gives us money to spend in January. Glad we didn't splash too much cash only players we don't need.

Hopefully buy zaha at a reasonable price in january but if its £50-60m he'll probably go to arsenal. Just need to perform now on the pitch.

If it meant our wage structure being compromised and players unrest then leaving saha at palace then so be it.

Good luck to the new players and those who have departed. Funny how we have moved on from ten years ago. James McCarthy would have been treated as a "new signing" back from injury. I'm just pleased to have new players!

All starts Saturday and anyone else got this vision of saha scoring twice? Up the blues!!!!

Gibson, Holgate and Feeney deserve a proper chance to be the next ‘stones' and this will encourage others that there is a path available to first team too. If they don't grab it, we'll grab either Zouma or a genuine alternative in January anyway. Mina (if he stays fit) will shine and dominate, alongside the awesome Michael Keane.

Davies and Anthony Gordon both with a chance to play in the cups too, and Lossl will provide better cover than Stek here also. Coleman will HAVE to be what we know he can be, and Sidibe might push him out anyway (like Digne did to Leighton Baines - which many doubted last year too).

Gbamin could be a super star, Delph will add leadership and steel in the middle when defending a lead (and cover for LB if Leighton gets inevitably injured - as could Sidibe too btw!). I'm sure I'm not the only one who jumped in the Air when our Portuguese huggable hero Gomes said “I'm back” in my email.

Upfront we've signed a potential superstar in Moise Kean, and DCL is going to have to push on to stay relevant too. Hornby and Simms May push into first team picture, and unlike others I think Tosuns second year could show him for the goal scorer he is.

and having NOT spent £80m+ on a dribbler, we've kept a few quid back to add a few more in January too. Maybe Reiner Jesus!

Me. I'm buzzing. Can't believe there are some moaning. Glass half full boys and girls, let's get behind the boys and get back where we belong. #COYB

I agree. I think they were torn but didn't want to commit to Jags before June 30th as they hoped to get Zouma. Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan. But it's a catch 22. In the past we've been burned with contract extensions we regret e.g. Hibbert, Mirallas, Garbutt.

I'm not revising my position here as I made it clear that my winger hierarchy was Neres, then Malcom, then Pepe. I probably would have taken Zaha ahead of him. Iwobi is younger than Pepe. He's played 4 top flight seasons as opposed to 3, and he's proven in European competition. He's not a bad signing at that price.

Is the window a good one? Yes and no. I have said on here, time and time again, that I was concerned that we had a Zouma sized hole in our defence that was not getting addressed and so it concluded as such.

I think the team is much stronger than last season.

Gk - we have better than Stek and a teenager.
Rb - Coleman starts the season fitter and Sidibé is a world cup winner (would he really have gone is he was as dodgy as some above make out?) so definitely better than last season
Lb - Digne and Baines again, but with cover from Sidibe, so slightly better.
Cb - definitely worse, cannot sugar-coat this
DM - we currently have 2 with Gbamin, last season we just had Schneiderlin
MC - Gomes is ours, he is fit, he starts the season, we also have Delph and Iwobi (can play there too), as well as Davies
AMC - Sigurdsson, but I expect us to use the AMC less
Wingers / wide forwards - we are much stronger here, Richarlison is better, we've lost lookman who barely played and didn't do much, Iwobi is obviously an option there. If we really wanted Zaha, why was Walcott never leaving?
CF - we have Kean in addition to an older and better Calvert-Lewin and Tosun and Niasse are still there.

If at the start of the window you told me we could sign Moise Kean, but we'd need to spend big, how much would I spend? I would have said I would throw Zaha level money at him. This kid is going to be a superstar, I'm sure of it. And we got him for cheap. Forget the price, this player will singlehandedly transform the team.

Back to defence, Gibson has been rated highly for some time. The lad just turned 19. I rate Feeney, and that lad is 20 and was our u23 captain. The fact that Gibson seems to have leapfrogged him in the pecking order tells you something. It clearly shows Silva rates him. I was concerned that we denied him or Feeney the 4th choice slot. I expected us to get a top class centre-back and then for those three first teamers to fight it out and Gibson to be fourth choice, get a few games and often sit on the bench.

Gibson won't be third choice. Holgate will. So Holgate needs to step up now. I think he can. He's infuriating at times. But he is a talented young lad.

I've often gone on about Silva's coaching ability. Well here he has the chance to prove it. Contrary to popular opinion that has him as a kamikaze Martinez clone, he is actually an astute defensive coach. We did not concede many goals once we got playing well. At Estoril he concede about a goal a game, 1.44 - 1.02 on goals for and goals against. This was over three seasons. At sporting with a better side, it was 2.04 - 1.04. Then at Olympiacos (including CL games) it was 2.48 - 0.81. Then came the tough half season at Hull, 1.14 - 1.95 and the season at Watford: 1.46 - 1.81. Finally, last season for us, 1.55 - 1.33. Allardyce was better defensively, but he was 1.19 - 1.23. What about Koeman? He was 1.47 - 1.28.

Many coaches have said that they can coach someone to be a top class defender more easily than to be a top class striker. It's a fact that it's easier to spoil than it is to create. Allardyce built a successful career on it. Mourinho too (post Porto). Silva is a defender, not an attacker. He knows how to organise a defence. He can coach Holgate, Gibson and Feeney and improve them. One of them is about to get a lot of games.

Nathan Ake seems to be a name some of the disgruntled have thrown in, but would you pay £75m for him? Or £40m for Duffy? Or would you have paid £80m for Maguire. Let's go back to Duffy, he wasn't good enough for us so we released him. I'll stick my neck out and say Feeney, Gibson and Holgate were much better than him at the same ages. So why sign him, with his low ceiling, when we can develop one of these lads. Duffy developed because he played. Silva can mould someone like Gibson, who has more technical ability than the more old-fashioned styled Feeney.

I'm very disappointed that we lost Zouma. I have major doubts that Mina and Keane can play together, we need Zouma's pace. Mina is not slow, in fact I'd like to see Mina v Zouma over 100 yards and I wouldn't put it past the Colombian not to win. It's that initial acceleration where he struggles. Silva will be very aware of this, and either he plays the quick Holgate or he adapts his tactics.

There's also the Gbamin factor. Gbamin isn't here to replace Gueye. They're not the same player. Gbamin will not hunt the ball. He will play in Schniederlin's position. He will sit in front of the back four. So he can help the defence out meaning the lack of pace at the back is less of an issue. Gbamin is quick. He takes away the initial worry over the lack of pace as anyone getting past him will be facing a Mina who should be up to full speed.

In summary, yes there is valid concerns over the defence, but we can still be pleased with the window. Brands did not panic and spend silly money on anyone. He bought the players we needed, with one big omission. The onus is now on Silva to prove his coaching ability.

The heights of our backups are less clear. Morgan Feeney is a tall lad. He's about 6'3" or 6'4". Gibson is over 6 foot, but not sure how tall. Holgate is listed as 6'1", but is that a recent measurement? Not saying he's grown recently, but this may be a figure from when he was a kid, and he grew since then. I met him once I was sure he was 6'2" or 6'3". Maybe he was just wearing heels though! Point is all three are bigger than Ake.

Whilst it is a disappointment not getting a centre back, I think we have dodged a bullet not signing Rojo. Holgate and the kids may now get the opportunity to shine. If they cannot perform to the required level, we can go back for Zouma without having the problem of another £20 million+ dead weight on the books.

Brands has also succeeded in getting some of our surplus players off the wage bill and has given us a more balanced squad. He isn't finished yet with more outgoing business likely before the European deadline.

Overall I'd say 8/10. Or would our whingers prefer to have All****yce and Walsh back?

Been a good window for Everton in my opinion.

It is amazinng the controversies that always arise after a window closes. I agree that we may really regret not signing a top class center back. However with the type of players we have brought in hopefully we will spend most of the games in the opponents end.

I am actually pleased that we got Iwobi instead of Zaha. He is younger, appears to be more mature and could provide a lot of skill. I was impressed whenever I watched him play for Arsenal. Remember Zaha was a standout in a very ordinary Palace team, whereas Iwobi was amongst a group of very good players and he was still very capable.

One last suggestion, which may seem outlandish, why not try CL at center back. He can't score at one end, Perhaps he could stop them at the other end. He is fast, intelligent and very good in the air. I wonder if this has ever been tried in practice.

Lastly there are still far too many gloom merchants even before we have played a real game. I feel we have signed a number of young players with lots of potential. Give them a chance.

That said, if we'd have got Zaha I think we could have had a decent stab at finishing above United and Chelsea. Now, I would say that we're still competing with Wolves and Leicester

Well said son.

Mason Holgate is 6 feet 2 inches. Morgan Feeney is only 6 foot 1 inch or thereabouts, or he was when I met him in La Manga, slightly smaller than me & I am 6 feet 2 inches.

Con Ouzounidis, Matty Foulds & Joe Anderson are all taller than Morgan Feeney.

Given the circumstances (Zouma was gone anyway and Gueye wanted away) its hard to see how this window is anything but a success.
7 signings in, including an incredible prospect in Kean, proven quality from Gomes, Sidebe and Delph, youthful promise with Gbamin and Iwobi plus a small improvement in Lossl (over Steklenberg) is impressive.
Plus we've moved 20+ players on (and off the wage bill) including the likes of Sandro, McCarthy and Besic (and maybe more to come)
AND all done within a prudent net budget.

Yes it'd have been nice to have also landed Zaha, Zouma and Doucore and maybe shifted Mirallas, Niasse, Bolasie, Tosun et al (there's still time!), but the ambition on display and the shrewdness of some of these moves is so far away from previous dealings its unreal.

What shows you this ?

Why the negativity ?

I am fully with Chris @644 and Dave @ 628

This is possibly the best and arguably most considered window I can remember

Cheer up please

We kept Jags a year past his sell by date & his defensive performances were very debatable. He was also on the short side & with age could not jump from a standing position like he used to.

Get rid of that underachievement and hope that the new lads improve us and that gap to sixth, never mind seventh, should close massively.

We just don't know. Mina could turn out to be a world beater this season and all of the new signings complete dogshit. Good on paper, but you just never know... We can only hope it all pans out.

Players that are now sold out were bought from Dynamo Zagreb, Charlton, Wigan, Villa, Eupen.

Players now brought in are from Juventus, Barcelona, Man City, Monaco.

We are becoming globally attractive and it's not by paying crazy wages, it's the vision, the ambition, the leadership and the belief. I fancy it myself.

But we certainly did better than the rest!

Gueye is a flawed player who needs another player to compromise his flaws.

I will say though, Gueye is going to be a great signing for PSG. What he can do is cover a lot of ground. PSG camp on the opposition penalty area and they are often hit with a sucker punch on the counter attack. Gueye sitting on the edge of the opposition box can smoother these counter attacks. If not winning the ball back, he can slow the opposition down enough for PSG to recover position.

For us, he had Gomes behind him, because he couldn't take the ball off the defence and initiate attacks. If he won the ball he had to get rid of the hot potato. Of course, he had a great season under Silva and suddenly showed qualities I didn't know he had and carried the ball well and even started passing better. But clearly this did not mean he could drop deeper take over the initiation role (since others don't like him being called the play-maker) and allow Gomes to get further forward.

Gbamin is meant (from everything I have seen and read) to be a good passer. He is also a tackler and he is quick. Therefore, he can sit deeper in the Gomes position and allow Gomes further forward. He can take the ball off the defence and the keeper. One of the things I will be looking for in the first game he plays is who comes central when we have a goal kick and the centrebacks split. Is it going to be Gbamin rather than Gomes? That would be a massive change.

Gueye often got forward to smoother attacks earlier. He was great at it. But it meant Gomes had to sit deeper to cover for this. But ask yourself the more important question, why? Why do we need a defensive midfielder closing down and tackling that high up the pitch? He's doing someone else's job. It looks great and gives great stats but that's a team deficiency for me. I want my DM sat in position and doing his own job, not someone else's.

So I am hoping Gbamin has that discipline. Sure, I'm looking forward to him winning the ball and surging forwards at pace. That alone will make him a firm favourite with the fans. A big favourite I bet. With great work rate and work ethic and this ability to drive forwards himself in a very aggressive manner, he is going to really endear himself to the fans. But he changes the entire dynamic of the side. Gomes gets further forwards and shows what he can do in and around the box.

People seem to think the Gomes of the Wolves game was a one-off. It's not. That's the real Andre Gomes. That's the guy I watched for a season and a bit at Benfica. He can do that week in, week out. He is very effective outside the opposition box and he can play telling passes and he can get past men himself. He can get assists and goals.

The issue is Sigurdsson, and how he fits in. If we forget him and play Delph, who is a good passer and box to box, then that's a hard-working and dynamic midfield. Davies also brings energy. And no one runs more than Sigurdsson. I just hope Silva can coach him into playing 10-15 yards deeper, ie level with Gomes and with Gbamin holding behind them.

Then with quick wingers, pushing on. Let's remember the pace we now have. Kean, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison, Iwobi, Walcott, and even Bernard. That's a lot of pace. Opposition defences will be dropping off and dropping deep. Which means if we do play 4231, then Sigurdsson will find a lot of space, or if we play 433, which I want, then Gomes or Delph can exploit the space arriving later and unmarked.

Opposition teams will be terrified of that forwards line. All of them, even the big 6. that is a strong forward line and pace you worry about.

Now let's crack on.

COYB.

Link

Gk: Schmeichel

Rb: Pereira
Lb: Chilwell
Cb: Evans
Cb: Morgan

DM: Ndidi
DM: Tielmans
AMC: Perez
LW: Maddison
RW: Albrighton

CF: Vardy

Back-ups: Praet, Justin, Mendy, Choudhury, Iheanacho.

There's a good side there. They're got 7 or 8 players you'd build a top 6 side on. But they're short. They're worse than us in defence. Wes Morgan is going to actually play. Now that's a major flaw in their side. Harry Maguire leaves a bigger hole than Zouma, and Mina is a much better replacement.

Man for man, I think I'd take our players over theirs more often. Then when you look at the bench, we're much, much stronger.

It's not a wise thing to, and I'm speaking from experience, I questioned the wisdom of Everton in signing Roy Vernon following his debut performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers. I learned from that, not to be hasty in my judgement.

On a personal note, John, I sent an E-Mail to you a couple of days ago, I'm having a bit of trouble sending E-Mails at the moment, did you receive it?

We have sold Lookman for 22.5m and bought Iwobi for an initial 28m.

He has more physicality than Lookman and probably fits the team profile better than Lookman. Silva must think he can operate in our system to better effect, with a bit of tuition. I think he is more of a team man and player too, not a prima donna.

When I think of it in these terms it seems a logical deal for a young player with good experience who could be improved and also slot into our system. he is fast, strong and will contribute both defensively and in attack. Lookman never really did that.

The proof will be if he can affect games with assists, or goals and at the same time be single-mindedly disciplined in his defensive duties too.

Aside to Zouma who was a lone deal, we've bought or loaned players at least as good if not better than we had, or who've been sold or loaned.

Let's hope Mina and Keane gel and blend fast, and we get lucky with injuries at CB.

Optimism is at a good level and so MS must now do the business on the park.

It could be we get a very good start and beat Palace after, what was in my view one of the most lack lustre preaseasons in terms of results in modern times.

Now for Palace.

Bear in mind that Iwobi played for a top 6 team that scored 73 league goals last season and had Aubameyang and/or Lacazette up front.

Palace are a bottom half team whose "strikers" failed to score a league goal in the first half of the season. They scored 51 goals last season.

%age goal involvement would be in Zaha's favour, plus opposition defence would always be most focused on him, and Iwobi would be a bit ignored with his poor finishing, defenders focusing on Auba instead.

We've signed Arsenal's 12th man as our biggest signing of the summer, so it's hard to imagine us overhauling them this season. However, glad we didn't overpay on Zaha, and wish Iwobi all the best here and hope he surprises a few people (including me) who doubt his end product.

It seems we are still considered a dumping ground for the top six, when will we ever learn .

Don't just take my word for it, look at transfermarkt.com and you'll see an unbiased view:

Link

𧺊m squad value, with an average player value of 㾻.5m. Leicester on 𧸖m, and 㾷.0m. Interestingly West Ham are 𧷮m and 㾸.4m. So less quantity than Leicester but more quality. Bournemouth's rating is surprising. Wolves squad is cheaper, but they are more competitive on the average player price.

What's notable is we are closing the gap on the big 6. But you can also see the average of the squad has gone up. In other words, more actual players rather than filling out the squad with kids.

By the way I am not convinced that Palace would have sold Zaha even if we had offered £100 m. They stated a number of times throughout the window that he was not for sale. Their stance has completely pissed of their prize asset though and I would be a little surprised if he plays on Saturday.

Anyway more than happy with Iwobi and hope he fulfils his potential.

Can't wait for Saturday and praying that Kean and Gbamin get at least some game time.

Meantime, let's see how Gbamin does, and if i'm right and he allows Gomes to get further forward and show the attacking part of his game.

The shenanigans at CP seem to actually all revolve around Zaha wanting to leave to join us and Palace not budging on price. In the end - it seems that the deal didn't go through because despite all the faff in the press - we never went back and raised our bid above the 㿠M we originally offered.

Meanwhile, - again as I have said several times on this and other threads - before close season M&M made clear that they had a list of targets and that they would be pursuing them.

Obviously there would be different players on that list for different positions and if choice one wasn't available they would move on to choice 2 etc for each of the positions.

Given that we were at one time chasing Malcom from Barca and then Zaha from CP, before we made an initial offer for Iwobi, it is probably fair to say that Iwobi was third on the list for that position.

But, whatever happened, I am confident that M&M would not pursue anyone that they did not think would improve the team so, if Iwobi was on that list - he was there for that reason.

Finally, from what I have seen of the Brands and Silva operation, I cannot, for one moment believe that today, Brands turned to Silva and said, "We can't get any of our CB targets and CP won't sell us Zaha at a price we want - I know - lets make a last minute bid for Iwobi so that we can get rid of this last few million that is burning a hole in our pockets".

No folks - I firmly believe that Iwobi was on that list because M&M believe he can help lift us to the next level. and, in the end, they got their man - at what now seems to be a very good price

Having said that, Evans is notoriously injury-prone (see Mina) so either team could be playing a teenage or over-the-hill centre half in a few weeks, and then who knows...

A generous helping of good fortune never goes amiss.

They do also start the season with a settled team who are familiar playing with each other: 9 out of their likely starting 11 played together at the end of last season., ours is likely to be only 7/11 (well, perhaps 8, since Iwobi won't be starting, post AFCON)

My issue is the balance of the side and I'd rather take out the no10 (the AMC) and use a DM with two MCs. I'd like Sigurdsson to evolve into one of those MCs. I just don't think he's played well in that central midfield role as a number 8, going box to box.

We went for 2 top drawer attacking players and failed simple as, Now Iwobi has potential to become a great player, but we as Everton supports seem to spend our lives looking for silver linings when let down

Zaha would be a starter in any Top 6 side thats the type of statement signing( Mosh the bluffer) I would have expected from a team proporting to break the Top 6 and we failed

Is not to say there are some weak teams in Top 6 this year and we might get there but would be a shame if we fall short yet AGAIN for the sake of 20m or so

I am very disappointed we didnt get him and I believe we were trying till the end, is why the Iwobi deal nearly didnt happen and was soo late..

Forward situation been addressed, Gomes deal sorted out, Iwobi in (most chances created in the prem by an arsenal player last season despite his limited minutes), Sidibe in to back up Coleman, Gbamin and Delph in for McCarthy and Gana, Llosels an improvement on Steklenburg, and a lot of dead wood cleared out (backing up as far back as Ashley Williams).

I'd have taken that before the end of last season. The only player we lost of any note was Gana and he wanted to go, everyone else we needed out and replaced with better.

DCL
Bernard Sigurdsson Richarlison
Gomes Gbamin
Digne Mina Keane Coleman
Pickford

That's only one new player and only Mina coming in who was not playing regularly at the end of the previous season. Moise Kean will come off the bench for the first few games until he starts banging them in. Iwobi too.

I predict Gbamin will start as he looks very fit and ready and he's a key player. Delph might have started but he's likely to only be on the bench, if he is indeed fit enough to start.

"either team could be playing a teenage or over-the-hill centre half in a few weeks"

Have you seen Morgan play? He is the weak link already and was the player Leicester have been trying to replace, or rather, find a centre half so that they don't need to play him. Hence the attempts to sign James Tarkowski and the rumoured bid for Ake. Leicester WILL be playing an over-the-hill centre half from the get go.

Steve, I would agree that he doesn't seem comfortable in that role and is much better suited to lone more advanced position. I like Siggy though, he gives 100% every game regardless of where he is expected to play. He is also one of the best finishers I have ever seen for a midfield player - makes it look very simple at times. However, he seems a bit lost in games at times and I think that is where we are looking to improve which is what I think you are alluding to.

I was surprised they allowed Luis to go, if I'm honest he is a player I rate and at ٦m I'd have liked us to take him but, with Mina, Holgate and Gbamin, I think we're covered for a partner for Keane.

Steve, you're probably right re that 11. Was counting Mina as a relative new boy, plus expecting "Moyesie" to start up front, as young lads should always be fit.

Have never seen Gbamin - hope he's decent!!!!!!!!!!!!

The problem is that he has great moments of influence rather than great influence. Our highest earner and most expensive player, playing in the no10 role should be trying to do more. Demanding the ball and trying to make something happen. Sometimes games just pass him by.

Maybe, just maybe, he's going to be less heavily marked and will find more space and he will then start to boss games and do everything I moan he doesn't. But if he did, that's not just our best player, that's a truly world class player. So, clearly I expect far too much. I do accept that.

As for playing deeper, you're right. He also moves into space and lacks positional discipline which central midfielders need by moving away from where he should be, gravitating back towards the number 10 position.

I suspect PSG have brought Gueye in for the champions league to try and compete with better sides as they are not on the same level football-wise. They don't need him domestically.

Eric, they do. As I said above, they get caught with sucker punches on the counter. This has been enough to lose games they absolutely dominate.

Gueye can take a position covering as PSG camp in the opposition penalty area. So, if they get dispossessed, Gueye can get across and make the tackle or hold up the attack for PSG to recover their shape. He's excellent at this. And I suspect it's this they want more than for him to hunt the ball in CL games. I will watch with interest to see where and how he plays in CL games against the big sides.

Meantime, Morgan is looking at a transfer to Turkey or elsewhere in Europe and so is unlikely to be counted on, unless Silva has done a U-turn after missing out on Doucouré and now wants Schneiderlin to play a significant role and has persuaded him of this.

I would much rather see Gbamin in from the start as he is now an integral part of the future, and hopefully remains to be. That also applies to any other peripherals, who may be heading for the exits, we have been gifted a decent fixture list this time around let's take full advantage of that and try and gain as many points as we can.

Mirallas, Niasse, Tosun and Bolasie will all be big earners so the sooner they're gone, the better.

All in all quite a successful window which should have trimmed a fair bit off the wage bill with, hopefully, further reductions to come!

1. Pickford
2. Holgate
3. Baines
4. Keane
5. Delph
6. Calvert-Lewin
7. Sigurdsson
8. Walcott
9. Digne
10. Mina
11. Tosun
12. Schneiderlin
13. Bernard
14. Gomes
15. Stekelenburg
16. Coleman
17. Gbamin
18. Davies
19. Kean
20. Richarlison
21. Sidibe
22. Iwobi
23. Lossl
24. Gibson

I have to say, that seems like a pretty solid squad, all things considered.

I agree with your playing in moments analysis though I disagree with you on his passing ability which for me is decent but not great.

I think the reason why fans will always be split on him is because of his special ability to strike a ball and win games. When he does that he wins games, when he doesn't he offers very little.

At Spurs he failed because they didn't played him in a 3 a lot of the time and so nullifying his main weapon and that's why they think he's useless and his confidence was shot.

Jer- Zaha would walk on to any top 6 team.. really?

Last years 6 players who played in his fav position: Sterling,Mane,Son,Martial,Hazard and Lacazette.

Not sure he would walk into one let alone any.

Want to know the issue with Gylfi? He spends far too much energy covering Richarlison (Who is the lazier of the two) and dropping back to pick the ball up because as some posters alluded to even on this thread, Gana gueye's weakness was his passing. I mentioned as much on the Gana to PSG thread in January.
Please watch Gylfi and his tracking back more closely this season. He needs to be selfish in my opinion and leave the defensive players to their jobs, I mean how often is Gomes and Gana busting a gut to run beyond Gylfi? Not very much.

Finally id say that Gylfi struggles sometimes because he picks the ball up and there is only ever one man ahead of him (Usually DCL). There are so many factors that come into play in the Gylfi debate.

Can Gbamin be the next Yaya Toure or can he free Gomes to push forward a little more? time will tell.

Finally, that goal against Leicester was my GOTS. The turn and the conviction to hit the shot as sweetly as he did was a thing of beauty. criminally disregarded in the GOTS competition, especially compared to Salah vs Chelsea which has been scored a million times over by any left footed right winger.