tadpole
Player Valuation: £15m
Every summer it's the same story.
There's an endless stream of media articles saying that some of Everton's biggest stars are being chased by big money clubs. Sometimes it comes to nothing, sometimes we have to let a player go.
Everton are not a selling club in any sense of the word - especially not now, with the increase in the TV money, there's no longer any serious suggestion that we have to sell in order to buy. In the last five years we've generally been very good at holding onto top players who form part of our future plans (think Baines). Most fans think that players are just moneygrabbers, but if that was the case then we wouldn't be able to hold on to so many top players on the wages that we offer. Take Garbutt : so many assumed that he was going to leave. But like many before him, it seems that he decided that he liked the setup here, being an Everton player meant something to him.
Every club knows what it's like to sell their best player. United sold Ronaldo, Liverpool sold Suarez, Spurs sold Bale, and so on. It's traumatic, but it's not the end of the world. The stack of money helps (though Liverpool and Spurs didn't invest theirs very well). And Everton aren't are a team who rely on one star player to deliver the points. When we succeed it's because the team are all pulling together, working for each other.
Stones to Chelsea ? Coleman to Man United ? I'd hate to see either of them go. But it's great that we're in such a strong position : both players signed long term contracts last year, and the club are committed to keeping them. Obviously if Chelsea did offer us £40m for Stones there'd be a decision to make. However exciting a player Stones is, these days the Premier League is packed with very capable centre halves, so losing him would not be a catastrophe. Anyone can do the maths : it could buy us a replacement for £10-12 million, a striker for £20-22 million, and still have money left over for the Kenwright slush fund.
So this year I'm feeling relaxed about all this. Let's sit back and see how it plays out.
There's an endless stream of media articles saying that some of Everton's biggest stars are being chased by big money clubs. Sometimes it comes to nothing, sometimes we have to let a player go.
Everton are not a selling club in any sense of the word - especially not now, with the increase in the TV money, there's no longer any serious suggestion that we have to sell in order to buy. In the last five years we've generally been very good at holding onto top players who form part of our future plans (think Baines). Most fans think that players are just moneygrabbers, but if that was the case then we wouldn't be able to hold on to so many top players on the wages that we offer. Take Garbutt : so many assumed that he was going to leave. But like many before him, it seems that he decided that he liked the setup here, being an Everton player meant something to him.
Every club knows what it's like to sell their best player. United sold Ronaldo, Liverpool sold Suarez, Spurs sold Bale, and so on. It's traumatic, but it's not the end of the world. The stack of money helps (though Liverpool and Spurs didn't invest theirs very well). And Everton aren't are a team who rely on one star player to deliver the points. When we succeed it's because the team are all pulling together, working for each other.
Stones to Chelsea ? Coleman to Man United ? I'd hate to see either of them go. But it's great that we're in such a strong position : both players signed long term contracts last year, and the club are committed to keeping them. Obviously if Chelsea did offer us £40m for Stones there'd be a decision to make. However exciting a player Stones is, these days the Premier League is packed with very capable centre halves, so losing him would not be a catastrophe. Anyone can do the maths : it could buy us a replacement for £10-12 million, a striker for £20-22 million, and still have money left over for the Kenwright slush fund.
So this year I'm feeling relaxed about all this. Let's sit back and see how it plays out.