Whiskyjack

I think you and I might be the only ones here who rate Richarlison 😝

Yeah balanced view for me would suggest she was mediocre - middle of the pack. Not great, but could have been much worse. In any event not a big loss. Investment committees where nobody takes responsibility for failed transfers dont really work. Hopefully going forward we give all the authority to the manager, and identify a manager with the scouting talent to match his tactics (fingers crossed Tuchel is that guy!).

They would have performed better. I mean, we are talking about the guy who has the record for the worst save percentage in premier league history here.

If we are going to hijack a United transfer I would rather we get De Jong (different type of player obviously) because while he's a good player not sure where Eriksen would fit into our system, unless it's to rotate with Mount. I like the comparison to Cesc but remember a prime Cesc couldn't even get into the starting 11 when we played 3 at the back under Conte despite phenomenal passing stats.

I guess my point is some of those transfers she didn't actually need to make because we were out of position. If you are out of position you don't need to go all in. Courtois f**ked us but we didn't have to spend 80m pounds and emergency buy Kepa, we could have reassessed next transfer window. I'm pretty sure Lukaku was not #1 target last season either, the rumour mill started with Haaland and Kane, and only when those became unrealistic did we "settle" for Lukaku. And Marina isn't the "sole authority" on transfers sure but I suspect she had a veto right (the coach would no doubt have had one too), and she probably had the most authority on the committee. I don't hate Marina at all, I think she was competent, but just think she was no more than that, certainly extremely good at negotiating individual transactions but struggled at efficient use of resources to put together a cohesive team. And if people say that wasn't her job, I don't know who's job it was then, it certainly wasn't all on her, but it was probably more her job than anybody elses?

The scouts give the report but she's the one with the biggest final say on transfers. Or do you think it's the scouts that sign the players? If she can't execute on say scouted option 1, then she should be showing more patience, instead of panic buying option c or d. Liverpool waited 18 months for VVD. City didn't get a striker last year, so they waited a year. We didn't get what we wanted, so panic bought the likes of Kepa and Lukaku just to plug holes with expensive but suboptimal pieces. She is the one with the most authority outside of Roman on transfers, so it's on her.

I don't understand what's so good about Ake when we let (in my opinion) two better prospects in Tomori and Guehi leave, and still have one left in Colwill. I'd much rather fasttrack Colwill's development. Ake doesn't have a super high ceiling, he is neither technical enough nor physical enough at CB, and hasn't got the pace to play wide.

Richarlison would be a brilliant signing, much better than Sterling or Gabriel Jesus. He is a bit nasty and not afraid of getting dirty in the trenches when the going gets tough. I like that he was dependable when Everton needed him most last season. Technically he is not great for a Brazilian striker but he's still miles better than Werner or Lukaku, physically he punches above his weight at holdup play.

nt

Marina is someone who misses the forest for the trees. She is great at optimising individual transactions, so she probably gets 10-20% more for our player sales than otherwise, but her talent scouting is terrible, we get mostly the wrong players in. In the long run she has hindered us more than helped us.

He won't go.

Players like him (Xavi etc.) need a load of playing time at that position in a heavy possession based team. Loan him to one of the frontrunners in a weaker league that would start him (rather than the worst team in a strong league like Norwich), maybe like Ajax, Porto Fenebahce or Marseille and watch him flourish.

Training kit is good, the official home kit is terrible.

We need the next Luka Modric!

Mount and Gallagher are not going to fit together IMO. Alot of industry, not enough creativity.

I think you are pretty much spot on. We need better more goal creating/scoring central midfielders rather than an upgrade at wing forwards.

Timo Werner is world class positioning too, it doesn't help him very much.

I'm sorry but CHO defensively is worse than TAA, and not nearly as good offensively. This is only logical if you are determined to shoehorn CHO into the side, the reality is his highest ceiling will never be realized as a wingback.

Agreed, Gilmour won't get games for Everton, he's not suited for physical relegation battles where his team doesn't have much of the ball. It will be really hard to find a good loan team for gilmour to be honest, the teams that he would do well in don't really need him. Gallagher would probably get lots of minutes at Everton but he could also get games here. If we don't get a central midfielder in the summer he should probably stay. His problem is we currently don't play 3 centre midfielders which is how he would excel (like Lampard did with two holding midfielders behind him). I think Frank would develop Colwill like he developed Tomori though, Lampard only stopped using Tomori at Chelsea because he had too many options, at Everton Colwill would probably be the best defender, so a loan like that could work out.

I don't know how he ever managed to thrive as a central midfielder. Gives the ball away in dangerous areas way too often and is not that good technically compared to other Spanish midfielders. Would have been a decent wingback but appears he's lost a lot of pace in the last few years.

If I'm Reece that's a sh*t offer. If you won't sell me for 100m pounds you should be paying me at least 300k a week.

I don't want another kovacic, give me a modric.

It's not Tuchel it's our lack of world class players in midfield and defence. We don't have an elite enough central defender pairing and a Veratti in midfield so everyone has to sacrifice to make the whole unit more sound. A veratti + a van dijk would allow us to play completely differently.

For 50m I'd rather take 25 yr old Richarlison than 28 yr old Sterling tbh.

I feel like speed and defensively he would be an upgrade over Jorginho in the pivot role, and he's probably just as good technically. Barcelona never used him properly, he is a deep lying midfielder through and through.