2 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

So was Willian - does that apply to him?

I was just making the point, he can’t be that bad if he won several accolades, I think it’s unfair to say he only had one decent tournament, clearly not the case.

I'd take Pickford but that's not the point. He's not as good as Courtois but that's not the point either. What's the point I hear you ask? I'll tell you what the point is. The point is the club have been caught on the hop. That's the point. Courtois was never likely to sign. That's the point. He's always wanted to get out. That's the point, and the club didn't see it coming.

 

Now, with two weeks of the window left, we're wondering who we should buy. Now. It's embarrassing. We should have worked all this out months ago, a year even. Instead, we're scrambling around in the dark, like a drunk sailor at closing time. It's embarrassing.

 

I've felt for a long time our club is run by a bunch of buffoons and this only proves the point even more. Someone will pipe up and ask how I know all this for a fact. I don't. This isn't a court of law. This is a football chat site. I can say what I think. I don't have to back it up with proof. I look at all the evidence and make up my own mind, and I express my thoughts, because that's what this site is for. 

 

We don't want to keep Courtois, because we'll forsake a fee and he'll be a very corrosive influence around the club. We don't want to keep him and he don't want to stay. He wants to be at Real Madrid. We'll sell him to Real Madrid but first we need to find a replacement. That's what's happening folks. He'll be gone and we'll have Jordan Pickford. No we won't. Everton won't sell him. We'll buy someone else. Maybe that person will be good and we'll all be happy. Then again, maybe it will be Pepe Reina.

 

Edit: There's nothing like a bit of planning.

Edited July 27, 20187 yr by Davey Baby

1 hour ago, Davey Baby said:

I'd take Pickford but that's not the point. He's not as good as Courtois but that's not the point either. What's the point I hear you ask? I'll tell you what the point is. The point is the club have been caught on the hop. That's the point. Courtois was never likely to sign. That's the point. He's always wanted to get out. That's the point, and the club didn't see it coming.

 

Now, with two weeks of the window left, we're wondering who we should buy. Now. It's embarrassing. We should have worked all this out months ago, a year even. Instead, we're scrambling around in the dark, like a drunk sailor at closing time. It's embarrassing.

 

I've felt for a long time our club is run by a bunch of buffoons and this only proves the point even more. Someone will pipe up and ask how I know all this for a fact. I don't. This isn't a court of law. This is a football chat site. I can say what I think. I don't have to back it up with proof. I look at all the evidence and make up my own mind, and I express my thoughts, because that's what this site is for. 

 

We don't want to keep Courtois, because we'll forsake a fee and he'll be a very corrosive influence around the club. We don't want to keep him and he don't want to stay. He wants to be at Real Madrid. We'll sell him to Real Madrid but first we need to find a replacement. That's what's happening folks. He'll be gone and we'll have Jordan Pickford. No we won't. Everton won't sell him. We'll buy someone else. Maybe that person will be good and we'll all be happy. Then again, maybe it will be Pepe Reina.

 

Edit: There's nothing like a bit of planning.

What's tricky is that there was and still is no guarantee anyone will sign courtois. 

By anyone, I mean one of the two clubs that he wants to go to. If Real Madrid decided against signing him then he would probably have stayed.

I’d rather sign jack buckland. He would be less than half the price and would give us a good sell on value if he didn’t work out. I think the end goal has to be signing Oblak. He is better than Courtois and has a buy out clause but we need a good season or two before we could even think about signing him 

1 hour ago, Davey Baby said:

I'd take Pickford but that's not the point. He's not as good as Courtois but that's not the point either. What's the point I hear you ask? I'll tell you what the point is. The point is the club have been caught on the hop. That's the point. Courtois was never likely to sign. That's the point. He's always wanted to get out. That's the point, and the club didn't see it coming.

 

Now, with two weeks of the window left, we're wondering who we should buy. Now. It's embarrassing. We should have worked all this out months ago, a year even. Instead, we're scrambling around in the dark, like a drunk sailor at closing time. It's embarrassing.

 

I've felt for a long time our club is run by a bunch of buffoons and this only proves the point even more. Someone will pipe up and ask how I know all this for a fact. I don't. This isn't a court of law. This is a football chat site. I can say what I think. I don't have to back it up with proof. I look at all the evidence and make up my own mind, and I express my thoughts, because that's what this site is for. 

 

We don't want to keep Courtois, because we'll forsake a fee and he'll be a very corrosive influence around the club. We don't want to keep him and he don't want to stay. He wants to be at Real Madrid. We'll sell him to Real Madrid but first we need to find a replacement. That's what's happening folks. He'll be gone and we'll have Jordan Pickford. No we won't. Everton won't sell him. We'll buy someone else. Maybe that person will be good and we'll all be happy. Then again, maybe it will be Pepe Reina.

 

Edit: There's nothing like a bit of planning.

It is a poor situation we've got ourselves in, we should've given Courtois an ultimatum before the end of the season, sign the contract, or we buy a replacement. 

We move at a snail's pace with negotiations, every transfer seems to be an ongoing saga these days, and usually we don't come out with the player in the end. 

It's been like this for 3 seasons now, I'm not pointing the finger at anyone in particular, but there must be a quicker, more efficient and effective way of doing things. 

I'm hoping we don't make rash transfers late in the window again this summer, just stick with what we've got if the right player isn't available. 

I'm feeling pretty positive with the things on the pitch though, but I can't help but feel things could massively improve in the background.

 

6 hours ago, enigma said:

To be fair, we got Barkley for an absolute steal in today's market. Can't blame Everton for not wanting to give one of their better players away so cheaply. Maybe now they've bought Richarlison they'll need to recoup some of that money. 

They had no choice. Otherwise get nothing for him. They will still be pissed about it no doubt though.

3 hours ago, big blue said:

It is a poor situation we've got ourselves in, we should've given Courtois an ultimatum before the end of the season, sign the contract, or we buy a replacement. 

We move at a snail's pace with negotiations, every transfer seems to be an ongoing saga these days, and usually we don't come out with the player in the end. 

It's been like this for 3 seasons now, I'm not pointing the finger at anyone in particular, but there must be a quicker, more efficient and effective way of doing things. 

I'm hoping we don't make rash transfers late in the window again this summer, just stick with what we've got if the right player isn't available. 

I'm feeling pretty positive with the things on the pitch though, but I can't help but feel things could massively improve in the background.

 

This was the point i was making the other day. Everything just takes so long, then we run out of time and panic buy at the end of the window. Whoever is doing all of this planning is terrible at it. There isn't much time for negotiations in football, if you can't strike a deal quick enough, then move on to the next target. It's got to the point now where i wouldn't be surprised if no more players come in, it's so close to the season and we take far too long to push a deal through. I had a feeling we would struggle with the transfer window closing earlier this season, we are just lucky that others seem to be struggling too.

I would happily remove my right testicle with a rusted razor blade than deal with that Eversh*te again...