Rumour mill overdrive

[Blue Wiz]

we do have the bodies to cover a starting eleven without the need to throw players into positions they havnt played before...

howard
neville
yobo
lescott
baines
arteta
jagielka
osman
cahill
pienaar
yakubu

thats not a bad starting eleven, granted jags in the DM position doesnt inspire universes of confidence, but its a high % of what managed 5th for us last season.

No, our starting 11 is very strong.. but our bench isn't to be honest.

Hibbert, Valente, Vaughan, Anichebe & who?

Sure we have youngsters coming up, but do we really dare to count on them to be able to perform good solid performances week in and week out if we get injuries? I'm all for giving youngsters their chances, but let them get them when they are in topform and once in a while, at least until they've proven they can manage the pressure.

 

[Dixie69]

Too many gaps in the squad to fill now

The problem I have with speculation over who we may sign is that by my count we need about 7 or 8 players on the basis that a squad competing in Europe needs 2 good players per position.

If there was not something seriously wrong at Everton, we would long ago have started to fill some gaps. Clearly we would never sign 6 or 8 world class players so why not bring in some of the loans/cheaper signings while the complex big deals are dragging on? The answer to me seems plain as day .. we're skint. AJ had to be sold before we could buy. I know we have bid for Moutinho/Ramsey and possibly M'bia but we do have form for placing bids that we know we'll never get accepted.

BK says we have a number of deals under discussion - I'd believe it if 1 or 2 had been closed out in July but for none to be resolved 1 week before the season starts - no way.

Conclusion for me is we'll see 1 big spend with the AJ money, a couple of hopeful punts, and a couple of loans. No way will we see more than 1 of Moutinho, Milito, M'bia , Manny , Topal etc. Earlier in the summer I saw posts saying the reason we passed up on the likes of Sidwell was we were aiming higher. Truth is we could not afford him.

All of this does not mean a crap season - a small, tight squad could be very effective if they stay injury free. But the spin/lies about our spending power this summer upset me more than finishing 17th in the league. From June to now we've gone from Arshavin to Smith - says it all really.

 

[tadpole]

Let's say it's true that the Johnson money was needed to help finance the Moutinho bid.

That means there must be other bids being put on hold to see whether the Moutinho transfer goes through. One delay leads to half a dozen more. This could explain the lack of any bid for Milito. We'll only be able to put up the money for him if we've not had to spend on Moutinho. Otherwise Moyes may be left scrabbling around trying to bring in a striker on loan.

Maybe losing out on Moutinho won't be such a setback. Maybe it will leave us with enough money to bring in 4 players rather than the three suggested in this thread - say Milito, Fernandes, Smith and M'Bia.

Well I can dream, can't I.