A few thoughts -- Rebuilding

[Zatara]

Sides constantly evolve Zat. Not many thought Distin would be going strong now, but he is. Nobody knows if there's a 17yr old kid in our youth set up thats going to grow and develop like crazy. 2 seasons is a long time in football.

Only Distin is nearing retirement and thats some way away looking at him. I think you can be too preoccupied with tomorrow and not make the best of today thinking like that.

The thing is that a side may evolve but which way? Bearing in mind a new manager as well one would expect to have a change of personnel + with the ages of players, no cash and contracts ending soon I think this is what we will see.

 

[Zatara]

Yeah but look at villa to much youth not enough expeirence. We have a good blend of old and young however we should now be think of buying young good first team players in who can replace and demote the old guys to the bench. If we do this then there will be good squad depth for a few seasons before they start to drop of. We need to keep the likes of distin pienaar osman and Howard as its good for the club but they have to expect that some times they are required as bench players

These players are expensive though, if Baines was sold and we had cash over from summer and one or two other outs like jelavic etc we maybe could sign 2 players like this -- however their wages also wouldn't be cheap and not to mention the player they were oustings salary too....

Makes sense to go for younger players who can gradually be integrated into the side with the benefit of working with these established pros.

 

[Zatara]

how old is Phil "Jaggers" Jagielka ???

31 years old.

 

[steken1]

The thing is that a side may evolve but which way? Bearing in mind a new manager as well one would expect to have a change of personnel + with the ages of players, no cash and contracts ending soon I think this is what we will see.

Depends on how good your manager is with money. I think our managers done fairly well in the transfer market so far. Contracts aren't to be worried about IMO. Everton pay quite well, we're on the up and have a reputation for playing proper football now. Not many will be running deals down and leaving for better.

There's bound to be evolution. We don't need revolution.

 

[Zatara]

Depends on how good your manager is with money. I think our managers done fairly well in the transfer market so far. Contracts aren't to be worried about IMO. Everton pay quite well, we're on the up and have a reputation for playing proper football now. Not many will be running deals down and leaving for better.

There's bound to be evolution. We don't need revolution.

Don't think it matters if people run the deals down -- their ages mean they shouldn't be getting increased extensions and most are on a last payday anyway,

For the transfer market we have;

Robles -- Not sure yet.
Kone -- I think hes not good enough and hes out for the season anyway
McCarthy -- top class
Alcaraz -- Not needed
Deulofeu/Lukaku/Barry -- Great loans.

 

[steken1]

Don't think it matters if people run the deals down -- their ages mean they shouldn't be getting increased extensions and most are on a last payday anyway,

For the transfer market we have;

Robles -- Not sure yet.
Kone -- I think hes not good enough and hes out for the season anyway
McCarthy -- top class
Alcaraz -- Not needed
Deulofeu/Lukaku/Barry -- Great loans.

Zat, you can either look at how they're playing or look at thier ages. If you look at it the latter way you release players like Pirlo, Alonso, Distin and loads of others who have played at a high level after being ruled out purely through age.

Robles is a good back up for buttons.
Kone, we'll never know for sure
Alcaraz, will be needed these next few weeks IMO.

 

[Zatara]

Zat, you can either look at how they're playing or look at thier ages. If you look at it the latter way you release players like Pirlo, Alonso, Distin and loads of others who have played at a high level after being ruled out purely through age.

Robles is a good back up for buttons.
Kone, we'll never know for sure
Alcaraz, will be needed these next few weeks IMO.

It's not really about releasing them though, it's more about 'how to replace them'...the last thing you want is a year to go by and find that theres a heap of players almost out of contract with no cash to replace them....hence the planning with younger players to come in now and integrate.

I will judge Martinez on the next 2 windows to see if he spends cash on Kone/Alcaraz type signings or goes down the longer term path....

 

[steken1]

It's not really about releasing them though, it's more about 'how to replace them'...the last thing you want is a year to go by and find that theres a heap of players almost out of contract with no cash to replace them....hence the planning with younger players to come in now and integrate.

I will judge Martinez on the next 2 windows to see if he spends cash on Kone/Alcaraz type signings or goes down the longer term path....

I think being an everton manager means we can't plan too far ahead anyway. He'll go for a player who fills a gap where it's most needed.

I doubt we'll be buying too many old timers.

 

[big_daddy]

Big test for me is when he has to replace the defence, his Wigan teams were ****e defensively so it'll be interesting to see if that was more down to Wigan or himself

 

[steken1]

Big test for me is when he has to replace the defence, his Wigan teams were ****e defensively so it'll be interesting to see if that was more down to Wigan or himself

I think our defensive form this season answers that.

 

[Abraders]

Don't think it matters if people run the deals down -- their ages mean they shouldn't be getting increased extensions and most are on a last payday anyway,

For the transfer market we have;

Robles -- Not sure yet.
Kone -- I think hes not good enough and hes out for the season anyway
McCarthy -- top class
Alcaraz -- Not needed
Deulofeu/Lukaku/Barry -- Great loans.

Alcaraz is meant to be class and if there was an injury to Distin or Jagielka then he's the most experienced player to come in for us. Stones might be good but he's learning very much still

 

[billycopper]

This window I think Heitinga and Jelavic will probably go, maybe even both to West Ham. We're going to need a striker. I think it will either be someone cheap eg. Berbatov or it will be a loan from abroad. I can't see us spending a lot of money for someone who will most likely sit on the bench, especially when we don't know whether we'll be able to keep Lukaku or not.

Martinez has also said that he wants cover for Gibson. It will be the same sort of situation. We might even pick up a free agent, since they're only likely to play in an emergency and we probably won't need them next year.

In the summer I imagine that we'll pick Barry up as a bosman, Distin will sign another 1 year extension and we'll renew Deulofeu's loan. If we can't keep Lukaku then we'll probably spend the majority of our transfer budget on a similar type of player.

We don't really need a lot else. If an offer that's too good to refuse comes in for Baines or he makes it clear that he wants to leave we have a ready made replacement in Oviedo. Distin could then cover left back and Alcaraz could come into the middle.

Martinez rates Antolin very highly and I think it's only a matter of time before he comes into the side. Stones is ready too and Duffy will return from Yeovil a much better player. Someone has suggested that Barry might switch to centre back when Gibson regains fitness and it's not a bad shout either. So we're well covered in defence.

We have a young midfield McCarthy (23), Deulofeu (19), Barkley (20) and Mirallas (26). Pienaar is only 31 and his experience compliments the youthfulness of his teammates. I'd like us to bring in someone really crafty like Honda, Fernandes or Diego who Barkley can learn from.

It would be great if we could find a Walcott-type to compliment what we currently have.

 

[Carlito]

Barry will be a tough one to replace.

I'm not really expecting him to stay beyond the end of the season. Everton aren't going to pay him anything like what he's used to earning.

 

[Ozdec]

Barry will be a tough one to replace.

I'm not really expecting him to stay beyond the end of the season. Everton aren't going to pay him anything like what he's used to earning.

Nor will anyone else really - Man City overpaid everyone which is why they couldn't shift people like Santa Cruz and Tevez and they paid a load of Adebayors wages when he went to Spurs.

I think if he is enjoying it here he would happily sign a decent but not over the top contract to play for another 2-3 yrs

 

[Eggs]

...there is no certainty that players will come through from the youth ranks, we will do well if one or two make it.