I've been travelling most of today and keeping up with the news but haven't had a chance to post. What a day it's been for us, absolutely delighted about the business we've done and credit has to go to Marco, Marcel and even Kenwright for making all these deals go through.
- Richarlison at £35m rising to £44m - huge sum but when you look at this transfer window (Anguissa to Fulham for £30m - he looks talented but I can't see how he's ever worth £5m less than Richarlison) and the deals going through, it looks like a reasonable deal for a player that has the potential to be as good as pretty much anyone. Redknapp comparing him to a young Cristiano is probably a good comparison - you can see the similarities in their styles
- Digne at £18m - he's 25 and has already had spells at Barca, PSG and Roma as well as playing a lot for France. If he hadn't been behind Alba (no shame in that), he would have been starting for the World Champions in Russia. That price in this market is extremely good value - just look at who Leicester bought for even more than that earlier on today.
- Virginia from Arsenal. No idea on the price but the fact that Arsenal fans seemed cut up about an 18 year old goalkeeper leaving them sums up his potential. Who knows if we'll ever see him play but he seems worth taking the chance on.
- Mina at 28m - it's expensive for sure but when you spend that kind of fee on someone unproven it's nice to know that big clubs like Lyon (eat my shorts Aulas) and Man United were interested in him. You don't win Brazilian league CB of the year twice in a row at just 21/22 years of age, earn a move to Barca and then have a cracking world cup without being seriously talented.
It's hard to tell if he'd adjust but we've been crying out for aggression at CB for years and this bloke has it in bucket loads. He's unplayable in the air and it's nice to have that threat, as well as having someone who can actually sniff out weak crosses which seems to be our weakness these days. Barca's buy back clause is £54m which is more than fair - if they buy him for that then it was a player worth having for the time being.
- Andre Gomes on loan for the season for just £2m is nothing short of a genius transfer. It's been obvious to our whole fan base that we need someone who can win the ball in midfield and drive it forward - this lad does both exceptionally well. I'd like to think that him and Gana will form a great duo in our midfield. He might not have performed at Barca but it's not easy to go there and perform (see £100m Dembele) - despite his struggles, he played in most of their matches and prior to that he was Valencia's best player.
- Bernard on a FREE. I've saved this until last because I've been waiting for a player like this to come to Goodison for years. How many times have our fans said we need someone who has "magic" and "unlocks defences"? If there's anyone available who fits that description it's Bernard. He's a true magician and for me he's a massive coup. If he was under contract at Shahktar I have no doubts he would've cost £30-40m and even then I'm sure he had offers to go to some of the biggest clubs in Europe. What a signing.
Looks like Zouma is also on his way. He's quick, tall, powerful, good on the ball and Crouch said that he had the biggest leap he's ever seen. I really hope we get him in as we need another player who can play in a high line and his speed makes it work. I doubt there'd be a more powerful partnership in the PL than Zouma and Mina and it'll cause any team problems. Ideally the delays are that we have an option to buy but either way it would be a brilliant no risk signing.
It's almost as if Marco and Marcel looked at our team, saw where we were lacking and went out and found a solution for every problem we had. On paper it's been that good a window and probably our best for a long, long time. I'll never understand how anyone can look at the business we've done and say anything negative.
Football is never simple and we learned that last season - however, it's refreshing to know that we'll at least try to play attacking football and that we've signed the players to make it work. Expectations are high this season but if we can get top 7, qualify for Europa, have a cup run and play great football then it's progress - we might even grab an away win at one of the other top clubs while we're at it.
