Statement of Intent

[hktoffee]

Barkley learning to play that deeper role well would open up a hell of a lot of possibilities as well, talking about players incoming though it's why Strootman and Witsel both appeal to me, both can play the holding or box to box role at a very high level

Witsel and Strootman in CM will surely win us the midfield battle most of the time. Top 4 partnership is here to sign.

 

[bluestevon]

Witsel and Strootman in CM will surely win us the midfield battle most of the time. Top 4 partnership is here to sign.

The idea of a statement signing is the cherry on the top of the cake IMO anyway, build a top 4 quality team and add to it that one special player and see where it takes us

 

[DownOnTheUpside]

Barkley learning to play that deeper role well would open up a hell of a lot of possibilities as well, talking about players incoming though it's why Strootman and Witsel both appeal to me, both can play the holding or box to box role at a very high level

he's got it in him, his extra weight slows his acceleration, maing him look slower in an advanced role, shift him back and barkley at top speed and the muscle he's carrying isn't getting knocked off the ball by anyone, and caught by very few
he can prowl the halfway line during spells of opposing possession to [Poor language removed] the oppo out of throwing players forward, and keeping him outside the box on our penalties discourages the counter attack goals we suffer so many of - you don't want to come out the box when the ball falls to a player with that kind of howitzer shot in either foot on the edge of the box

all he needs to work on really is his passing range - as much as it pains me to say it, the player he reminds me stylistically the most is gerrard

 

[DanB90]

I think going forward Barkley will play deeper eventually, hopefully soon if we can get the right players alongside him. He's so much better when he has the ball and the pitch is in front of him, rather than playing up close to the opposition box, surrounded by defenders.

 

[TheAlmightyFloater]

Does this count as a statement of intent?

 

[bluestevon]

he's got it in him, his extra weight slows his acceleration, maing him look slower in an advanced role, shift him back and barkley at top speed and the muscle he's carrying isn't getting knocked off the ball by anyone, and caught by very few
he can prowl the halfway line during spells of opposing possession to [Poor language removed] the oppo out of throwing players forward, and keeping him outside the box on our penalties discourages the counter attack goals we suffer so many of - you don't want to come out the box when the ball falls to a player with that kind of howitzer shot in either foot on the edge of the box

all he needs to work on really is his passing range - as much as it pains me to say it, the player he reminds me stylistically the most is gerrard

Always reminded me a bit of Ballack in his Leverskusen days (from watching them in Europe)

 

[DownOnTheUpside]

Always reminded me a bit of Ballack in his Leverskusen days (from watching them in Europe)

bit before my time that mate

 

[chicoazul]

How to start without this sounding like another Football Manager inspired piece of fluff writing.

Well let's start at the beginning

We have a new owner, one who accoriding to an ever increasing amount of media reports, wishes to not only put a fair bit of investment into the team, but to completely change the nature of how Everton are viewed, not only inside football circles themselves, but also on a much wider base, the aim being to make us an attractive vehicle for commercial deals from companies that wish to hitch their vehicles to us.

How is this achievable?

Firstly - a new stadium, but that comes with the caveat of no matter how quickly it can be done and how high profile the new stadium is, that it will still take time - minimum of three years if everything goes smoothly, second - new commercial deals, yet again we are in a short term timescale at least tied into most of these deals, so yer again will take time for them to expire and for us to be able to negotiate on our terms, various parts of the commercial side of the club have been moved out of house and need to be brought back in house, so yet again this will all take time to achieve.

So whilst waiting for all the above to happen, Mr Moshiri is left with the conundrum of what to do now, and strange as it may sound, the delays on the ideas i have just mentioned can be seen also as a positive, because what they enable us to do is to raise the profile of the club and the marketability of it in the meantime, the easiest way for this to be done is by overhauling the PR side of the club, which i believe we will be in the process of doing - and maybe are already seeing the results of that with the new directors actions thus far. The other way is by makings us for want of a better word a 'sexy' club one that has the average joe bloggs with no real strong allegiance flick the match on when we are playing over choosing another game, be that a guy sitting in his 5 bedroom house in Devon, or a group of lads gathered outside a bar in India or Thailand etc

So how to make us Sexy...

Raise the profile of the club through a statement signing, or several of these, various names have been bandied about, most of whom whilst very good footballers will not exactly have the likes of Nike and such rushing to throw big fat deals at us, to a football purest they may make sense, Scneiderlein, Witsel etc are all very good footballers, but are they a 'statement' - the short answer is no, they will improve the team, they will move us up the league, but they won't change a thing on the grander scale of how we are perceived.

So what type of big name signing can we make, what is a realistic 'statement' - who can we attract, and why would they come? and who would make a difference on a global scale - which is what Moshiri is aiming for.

Before getting into naming names, we have to think about the finances of the club right at this minute and make a few assumntions on what we have and what will happen shortly

As @The Esk has stated in several other threads, we will look to raise our wage structure by at least 35-40m this season over the currently allowed amount of 7m allowed by the premiership FPP rules, and we are in a situation that the money is their for whatever we can attract to us, so say a estimate of a 150m transfer budget (high end estimate), to allow us to move the wage structure of the club up sevral notches, we will need to sell Stones for example, so overall the budget will be more in the region of 200m to spend, and with a 47m increase in the wages we pay per season allowed - which tarnslates to a 904k increase in wages across the club.

So here we are, sat with 200m to spend and with 900k pw we can spend on incoming players, let's add to this total with players already departed or who are likely to depart in the near future (yet more assumptions i know), Osman, Hibbert, Pienaar, Howard - 160k pw, Stones, Cleverley, McGeady, Kone and Naisse (loan) - frees up another 200k pw and liklely brings in about 10m in added fees on top of Stones.

So we are left with 210m and 1.26m per week in wages we can offer incoming players now, when you look at those figures they are mind blowing, but by all accounts they are what we will be dealing with this summer in all likelihood shoudl Moshiri manage to do what he has set out to do (and given his record so far - we shouldn't doubt he will manage what he sets out for)

Say Lukaku and Ross resign for massive improved deals, and across the squad in general a fair few new and improved contracts are given out, which wipes out 260k pw and in doing so sets the bar for wages at a massively higher total - 140k pw for Lukaku, 100-110k pw for Barkley etc

and now let's say we get a few of the players we have been linked with in - the likes of Strootman (20m), Witsel (25m) and we go for Butland (30m) and VVD (30m), we buy Milik or Janssen for 15m

thats 120m spent, and probably looking at around 500k in wages (again a generous estimate)

leaves the club with 90m and 500k in wages still burning a hole in our lovely Iranians pocket, but no statement signing, just some very good ones that will make the team very competitive, say we then blow a 30m bid on Perisic (current flavour of the month after his Euro exploits and also a position we depserately need sorting) and we give him parity with rom on wages - so another 140k and 30m gone

we are then left with a 60m and 360 pw situation, to go out their and target a 'statement' signing for the club to propel us into the spotlight, go throw that at Madrid, offer them their asking price for James Rodriguez and see what they actually say when we slap the money on the table, and see what his agent says when we offer to double his current 110k pw wages.

Honestly it sounds mental even typing this out, but money talks in football, and if we are serious in making a statement then we couldn't make a bigger on than this

Nicely put.

I do however think that modern football fans are hooked on tokenism and these so called statements of intents serve only to boost egos and bragging rights and seldom materialise into the projected or desired outcome.

Sustainable success is built incrementally and with sound strategy. Usually relatively under the radar too.

Otherwise it's just like a big game of wrestling with greasy quegs grabbing the mic and saying stuff for attention.

And we all know that wrestling is for self loathing manvirgins.

 

[Bluebonic]

Nicely put.

I do however think that modern football fans are hooked on tokenism and these so called statements of intents serve only to boost egos and bragging rights and seldom materialise into the projected or desired outcome.

Sustainable success is built incrementally and with sound strategy. Usually relatively under the radar too.

Otherwise it's just like a big game of wrestling with greasy quegs grabbing the mic and saying stuff for attention.

And we all know that wrestling is for self loathing manvirgins.

Well doen sir! The word Queg is sadly underused nowadays!

 

[bluestevon]

Nicely put.

I do however think that modern football fans are hooked on tokenism and these so called statements of intents serve only to boost egos and bragging rights and seldom materialise into the projected or desired outcome.

Sustainable success is built incrementally and with sound strategy. Usually relatively under the radar too.

Otherwise it's just like a big game of wrestling with greasy quegs grabbing the mic and saying stuff for attention.

And we all know that wrestling is for self loathing manvirgins.

probably right mate, no time to chat though off the dache!!!! yeah sounds posh doesnt it but not really

expect half the ultimate fifa team to have been signed by the time i get back!

always preferred the word meff to queg though

 

[chicoazul]

probably right mate, no time to chat though off the dache!!!! yeah sounds posh doesnt it but not really

expect half the ultimate fifa team to have been signed by the time i get back!

always preferred the word meff to queg though

You articulate well. You should write some stuff for the front page and get @GrandOldTeam to lash it up. Like I've told @Saint Domingo too. I've fierced him up now so he ready.

 

[Blue Chris]

maldini, ramos, rio, Beckenbauer, terry

Carlos Puyol, Japp Stam, Ronald Koeman???

 

[Blue Chris]

Cannavaro, Baresi, Sammer Moore. It's a big list

 

[orly]

Witsel and Strootman in CM will surely win us the midfield battle most of the time. Top 4 partnership is here to sign.

And this is precisely what I was talking about earlier.

How much have you seen of either of them I the last three years? And blowing £60m and throwing them straight into an unfamiliar league will "win us the midfield battle".

Absolutely nonsensical stuff. Completely inane

 

[kithnou]

And this is precisely what I was talking about earlier.

How much have you seen of either of them I the last three years? And blowing £60m and throwing them straight into an unfamiliar league will "win us the midfield battle".

Absolutely nonsensical stuff. Completely inane

Thank you!

As I said many times, I have no interest in 'sacrificing' one of the best young players in Europe for all these run of the mill footballers people in here want to overpay to get that likely are not good enough for a top 4 finish.

If we are to sell Stones, I would hope for a £60m+ bid for one of the games' top echelon.