Klinker
Player Valuation: £950k
I am sure most fans are going to be outraged and will continue the fume that was started days ago. Trying to be as objective as possible here is my opinion on this whole transfer period.
Firstly a review of who we got in (ignoring Koeman and Walsh, who in the end will be the cause of our biggest improvements):
Stecklenberg - Started his time with Everton well and looks to be a solid reliable keeper, but I am not going to get overly impressed just over a 3 game stretch. I still think that Koeman brought him in to be our 2nd keeper and wanted to bring in another as a starter. For the price a solid buy, no complaints.
Guye - This has Walsh written all over him. He has stepped in well as our terrier in the midfield. I do love seeing him read the play make a ten yard run knowing he is going to nick the ball. I am very impressed with how he breaks up play without committing a bunch of reckless fouls. Very clean in the tackle. Definitely a Kante-lite.
A. Williams - He steps right into a starting role and immediately covers Jags biggest weakness IMO (organizing and leading the defense). While I don't think he is the true Stones replacement (that would have been Khoulibaly or Kone) I think we can survive with our 3 main CBs for 1 season.
Bolasie - I still don't understand the mentality of "XXXX isn't worth that amount of money / he is only worth (some price that was relevant 4 years ago)". Everyone has silly money now and it is only going up in the foreseeable future. Prices even as recent as 2 seasons ago arent even relevant. So money aside, this Bolasie seems to be the mold of how Koeman wants his wingers, size/pace/direct. While I am sure there will be truth to the statement that he is very streaky and can disappear but unless you are a stud like Messi that is true for most attacking wingers, see Gerry and Mirallas. The key is that Bolasie adds another attacking option and provides options and depth. If he is not playing well cycle in someone else and make him earn a starting spot back. Everton used to have such a clear starting 11 because the bench was so thin and uninspiring. This is no longer the case. Overall I think this is a solid investment.
Calvert-Lewin - Not even going to pretend I know anything about him but we should be buying 2-3 signings to boost our academy and hope to unearth a gem. Thankfully we can afford to waste a few million if they dont work out. Good buy.
Valencia - Looks like a clear plan C. As a loan I can't be too upset with it. If he doesn't work out then he will be depth and get some cup games. This may affect the playing time of Lennon more than anyone.
Stones - Big fan of Stones and I am sure he will make all of the internet haters on the internet look like fools when Guardiola makes him a top CB. However the sale was the right call. He clearly wanted to take another step up. It was right to say no last season, but not letting someone move two summers in a row can set a bad precedent to future, especially when a fair valuation was submitted.
Now for the overall thoughts on the window. I'd say slightly disappointing that higher quality players were not brought in we did not get another GK (Stek has been fine but I feel we still need a Begovic or Hart) or more importantly a back up striker. I do think Koeman sees Gerry as a striker and if we behind he will get a lot more playing time (less if we are holding onto a 1 goal lead). Maybe this will be a learning experience for the board on how to get these deals over the line, to be fair with the increase in money I have seen way more shenanigans from selling clubs (changing demands after agreements, yada yada) in this window than any other.
I am sure plenty of posters will be giving @The Esk a bunch of grief and I am sure he deserves a little for what is now clearly some overconfidence and definiteness with some of his claims. I however will not join the parade making personal attacks, calling him a straight liar or believing some bullshit conspiracy theory about how he is just a plant for Everton to make us look stronger(clearly that is a dumb plan, because now everyone just gets pissed when high expectations are not met). I do believe he is in the know and the majority of players he talked about did have very legit links to back up his claims. I can see people being upset that we did not get a marquee signing, but its not for lack of funds or effort. The big players we were linked to (and some submitted bids on that would break our own record), didnt end up anywhere else. Khoulibaly couldn't be pried from Napoli even by Chelsea for a huge fee. In fact it looks like no one could be pried from Napoli. Brahimi did not go anywhere. Mata didnt want to leave ManU (whether he ends up regretting that, who knows), Witsel clearly only wanted to go to Juve and tried to force a move from Zenit (which also backfired). The Carvhalo link was actually the most tentative one but it seems he also just did not want to come here. It looks like only Sissoko (a clear plan B) was someone who you can claim we lost out on.
The fact is the past 10 years in general and especially the past 2 years in total have put us in a less desirable place for players to come. It is what it is and the only thing to do is to work hard to improve our position in the table (which I think we can) and keep slowly improving. It took several windows before Chelsea and City got to where they are. With FFP it will be even more difficult to make a tier jump in one window. While this window may be disappointing I am not in the "nothing has changed" camp. The desire is there to improve and more we improve a team, the easier it will be to bring game changing players in. I do think that if we are high up in the table we will be much more active in the January window than we have traditionally been.
TLDR: While there is some disappointment, I think we are a better team than at the start of the summer and we already look like a team that will be fighting for the European spots come the end of the season and can play with any club in the league. This new Everton won't be built in only 1 window. Also I hate this period and would be all in favor of the transfer window closing before the season starts.
Firstly a review of who we got in (ignoring Koeman and Walsh, who in the end will be the cause of our biggest improvements):
Stecklenberg - Started his time with Everton well and looks to be a solid reliable keeper, but I am not going to get overly impressed just over a 3 game stretch. I still think that Koeman brought him in to be our 2nd keeper and wanted to bring in another as a starter. For the price a solid buy, no complaints.
Guye - This has Walsh written all over him. He has stepped in well as our terrier in the midfield. I do love seeing him read the play make a ten yard run knowing he is going to nick the ball. I am very impressed with how he breaks up play without committing a bunch of reckless fouls. Very clean in the tackle. Definitely a Kante-lite.
A. Williams - He steps right into a starting role and immediately covers Jags biggest weakness IMO (organizing and leading the defense). While I don't think he is the true Stones replacement (that would have been Khoulibaly or Kone) I think we can survive with our 3 main CBs for 1 season.
Bolasie - I still don't understand the mentality of "XXXX isn't worth that amount of money / he is only worth (some price that was relevant 4 years ago)". Everyone has silly money now and it is only going up in the foreseeable future. Prices even as recent as 2 seasons ago arent even relevant. So money aside, this Bolasie seems to be the mold of how Koeman wants his wingers, size/pace/direct. While I am sure there will be truth to the statement that he is very streaky and can disappear but unless you are a stud like Messi that is true for most attacking wingers, see Gerry and Mirallas. The key is that Bolasie adds another attacking option and provides options and depth. If he is not playing well cycle in someone else and make him earn a starting spot back. Everton used to have such a clear starting 11 because the bench was so thin and uninspiring. This is no longer the case. Overall I think this is a solid investment.
Calvert-Lewin - Not even going to pretend I know anything about him but we should be buying 2-3 signings to boost our academy and hope to unearth a gem. Thankfully we can afford to waste a few million if they dont work out. Good buy.
Valencia - Looks like a clear plan C. As a loan I can't be too upset with it. If he doesn't work out then he will be depth and get some cup games. This may affect the playing time of Lennon more than anyone.
Stones - Big fan of Stones and I am sure he will make all of the internet haters on the internet look like fools when Guardiola makes him a top CB. However the sale was the right call. He clearly wanted to take another step up. It was right to say no last season, but not letting someone move two summers in a row can set a bad precedent to future, especially when a fair valuation was submitted.
Now for the overall thoughts on the window. I'd say slightly disappointing that higher quality players were not brought in we did not get another GK (Stek has been fine but I feel we still need a Begovic or Hart) or more importantly a back up striker. I do think Koeman sees Gerry as a striker and if we behind he will get a lot more playing time (less if we are holding onto a 1 goal lead). Maybe this will be a learning experience for the board on how to get these deals over the line, to be fair with the increase in money I have seen way more shenanigans from selling clubs (changing demands after agreements, yada yada) in this window than any other.
I am sure plenty of posters will be giving @The Esk a bunch of grief and I am sure he deserves a little for what is now clearly some overconfidence and definiteness with some of his claims. I however will not join the parade making personal attacks, calling him a straight liar or believing some bullshit conspiracy theory about how he is just a plant for Everton to make us look stronger(clearly that is a dumb plan, because now everyone just gets pissed when high expectations are not met). I do believe he is in the know and the majority of players he talked about did have very legit links to back up his claims. I can see people being upset that we did not get a marquee signing, but its not for lack of funds or effort. The big players we were linked to (and some submitted bids on that would break our own record), didnt end up anywhere else. Khoulibaly couldn't be pried from Napoli even by Chelsea for a huge fee. In fact it looks like no one could be pried from Napoli. Brahimi did not go anywhere. Mata didnt want to leave ManU (whether he ends up regretting that, who knows), Witsel clearly only wanted to go to Juve and tried to force a move from Zenit (which also backfired). The Carvhalo link was actually the most tentative one but it seems he also just did not want to come here. It looks like only Sissoko (a clear plan B) was someone who you can claim we lost out on.
The fact is the past 10 years in general and especially the past 2 years in total have put us in a less desirable place for players to come. It is what it is and the only thing to do is to work hard to improve our position in the table (which I think we can) and keep slowly improving. It took several windows before Chelsea and City got to where they are. With FFP it will be even more difficult to make a tier jump in one window. While this window may be disappointing I am not in the "nothing has changed" camp. The desire is there to improve and more we improve a team, the easier it will be to bring game changing players in. I do think that if we are high up in the table we will be much more active in the January window than we have traditionally been.
TLDR: While there is some disappointment, I think we are a better team than at the start of the summer and we already look like a team that will be fighting for the European spots come the end of the season and can play with any club in the league. This new Everton won't be built in only 1 window. Also I hate this period and would be all in favor of the transfer window closing before the season starts.
