TheAlmightyFloater
Player Valuation: £30m
Not that it means anything in real life but I always sign him for Everton in FM. I think this is the type of signing Brands is supposed to make, not like Iwobi/Delph etc
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Not that it means anything in real life but I always sign him for Everton in FM. I think this is the type of signing Brands is supposed to make, not like Iwobi/Delph etc
ChesterBlue
Player Valuation: £35m
Issue with him would be the price I think. Would be an excellent signing if we could pull it off though, looks like he’s going to be world class in the future
toffee-L
Player Valuation: £20m
Starting to think I can live with our current options at centre back. Although Michael Keane is one of our only realistic sellable assets, I could live with him for the foreseeable future in competition with Holgate and Mina if we address our other crippling issues elsewhere. Hopefully someone like Gibson is ready for the step up to be the 4th choice. First choice right back definitely needed. Sidibe sent packing, Kenny sold and Coleman as back up. If Baines doesn't stick around, I'd just promote the new lad to Digne's reserve straight away.
We all agree that Siggursson has to go but I would be really trying to get Delph out the door too, maybe back to Leeds if they come up. He's been crap when he's played, he doesn't care about Everton at all and he's permanently injured. Pointless to keep him around.
We need 2 centre midfielders in the summer, one defensive and one creative. Depending on the quality of who we bring in, I can live with Gomes and Davies (last chance saloon for him) providing competition. And of course JPG if he even still exists.
Out wide, I think Walcott will stay for another season which doesn't bother me, he's an ok squad player. One of Iwobi or Bernard should be sold, I'd rather it was Iwobi but it will probably be Bernard. We probably need first choice wide players in both positions but our budget likely won't stretch that far. The idea of Iwobi being our first choice left sided player is a scary one but Richarlison can always play there and hopefully Gordon comes on strong to give us more options.
Up front, our options are ok but the club will have a decision to make about Moise Kean. I'm personally fine with him staying for another season but if a club offers us decent money or an interesting swap (eg. If Roma offered us Cengiz Under) then I'd be tempted to cut our losses on him.
Bottom line, we can't afford a poor window. Brands cannot balls this up like he did last summer. Not only for his own sake, but I can't imagine Ancellotti will stick around for too long if we don't show any signs of progress in the short term.
We all agree that Siggursson has to go but I would be really trying to get Delph out the door too, maybe back to Leeds if they come up. He's been crap when he's played, he doesn't care about Everton at all and he's permanently injured. Pointless to keep him around.
We need 2 centre midfielders in the summer, one defensive and one creative. Depending on the quality of who we bring in, I can live with Gomes and Davies (last chance saloon for him) providing competition. And of course JPG if he even still exists.
Out wide, I think Walcott will stay for another season which doesn't bother me, he's an ok squad player. One of Iwobi or Bernard should be sold, I'd rather it was Iwobi but it will probably be Bernard. We probably need first choice wide players in both positions but our budget likely won't stretch that far. The idea of Iwobi being our first choice left sided player is a scary one but Richarlison can always play there and hopefully Gordon comes on strong to give us more options.
Up front, our options are ok but the club will have a decision to make about Moise Kean. I'm personally fine with him staying for another season but if a club offers us decent money or an interesting swap (eg. If Roma offered us Cengiz Under) then I'd be tempted to cut our losses on him.
Bottom line, we can't afford a poor window. Brands cannot balls this up like he did last summer. Not only for his own sake, but I can't imagine Ancellotti will stick around for too long if we don't show any signs of progress in the short term.
GwladysBlue
Player Valuation: £70m
Wouldn’t put this monstrosity of a signing past Brands.
I’d argue that Szoboszlai isn’t a Brands-type signing as he wouldn’t be a ‘find’. You want Brands to find value in the market by buying a ‘Szoboszlai’ before he has a head-turning season. Coleman, for instance, cost nothing because he was unknown...but within 18 months he’s worth a small fortune. Untapped talent is the best way to build a squad and grow its value. The moment Iwobi is bought he’s a bad investment; that’s what I find odd about who the club have bought in recent years - the value of the squad isn’t appreciating sufficiently. The strategy is off.
Sigh.
Since Brands has been here he's signed one proper player (I'm not counting Lossl) over the age of 27 - Delph - who arguably was a special case as he was available at a low fee and was a position of need. We needed leadership and versatility and he seemingly offered both. That was wrong, sadly.
But signing Lingard would be absolutely against what seems to be Brands' philosophy. He has talked repeatedly about signing younger players with resale value. If Lingard was 24 then maybe he'd see him as a player of potential who could be redeemed and sorted out. But I'm 100% confident that a 28 year old Lingard, who would likely cost £20m+, is not a player Brands would go for. He's a Steve Walsh signing, not a Marcel Brands signing.
People have really jumped on Brands this week, seemingly because we didn't beat a Spurs away in which we got utterly Mourinhoed. If we'd won that game I think we'd be seeing a very different narrative this week.
Just calm down.
When signing players for midfield I certainly do agree that leadership should be a consideration.
Who's_up_for_cumpkins?
Player Valuation: £8m
It's hard to judge I don't follow arsenal so who knows. Sometimes a manager and player just don't get on, or simply he doesn't fit the type of player he wants.
Seems like arteta is going down the old Moyes root of, if you don't do as I say your out in the cold permanently. Not that I'm saying that's a wrong approach.
Lingard story which the Echo cite is from The Independent's Miguel Delaney - who is apparently;
Certainly feels as though they've just thrown a few clubs into the mix for clicks.
- Tier 4 – Not to be trusted at all. These companies make money out of ensuring that you read them and they will make up anything to get you to harness advertising revenue.
Certainly feels as though they've just thrown a few clubs into the mix for clicks.
Zatara
Player Valuation: £90m
You're definitely right here, but both attitudes are as bad as eachother to be honest. If we'd won people would be saying we were going to win the league next year, which would be equally ludicrous. I think what has caused a bit of a backlash is that people had convinced themselves everything was alright now. There were loads of posts about how Carlo had come up with this magic formula and now we were just going to win all our games 1-0 and once he had his own players there'd be no stopping us. The defeat has brought people crashing back down to earth because a) It was a truly horrific performance in its own right and b) It just highlighted that actually we haven't solved any of our problems at all, we've just masked them a bit better. The focus - rightly, in my opinion - shifts to Brands when both of those things become apparent. It's fair to say that this is a long term project and he shouldn't be expected to unearth gems 100% of the time, but it's also fair to say that it's a damning indictment of his recruitment so far that our game plan under one of the greatest managers currently in the game is effectively to have as little of the ball as possible and simplify our approach to the point that you're just asking your wide players to play like extra full backs and your strikers to chase the ball as fast they can.
If we sign Lingard I will cry real tears.
Stephenlloyd
Player Valuation: £40m
What a surprise the echo jumping all over that story. Probably by a red. Can’t wait till they go bust. I haven’t read it, but I wonder if they’ve put at the bottom of this story, about this deal being unlikely, due to Everton only doing loans and swaps this summer.
Or do they only trot that line out when we’re linked with quality players
GwladysBlue
Player Valuation: £70m
If we’re only doing loans and swaps then we might as well just give up on next season too.
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