Yes a lot of sense in that, and I don't think anybody on here is going to quibble with what Leicester have done from a recruitment standpoint. You are often held up as the example we would love to emulate, and to be are quite rightly considered one of the top 5 or 6 teams now. Most of that has been down to recruitment.
Re the players we've added, I'm not sure what your qualification is or how long you want to go back. But Everton have done that very well. Aside from Holgate and Stones, we have DCL who was signed for around 1m and would probably go for 70-80m ish now. Lukaku we signed for 27 and sold for anywhere from 75-100m (depending on what add ons are designated). I mentioned Vlasic (15+ sell ons) Lookman (25m) & Onyekuru (15m) who we have moved on, as well as Gana Gueye (signed for 7m sold for 30m). The likelihood is Richarlison and Kean would also go for a lot more than we paid for them too. So there hasn't been a shortage of those such players.
Our issue, compared to Leicester has been when we have sold such players, particularly key players we have disintegrated. We probably just about got away with it re Stones, but after selling Lukaku and Gueye we imploded in both seasons. Leicester seem far happier about losing players and ensuring the show keeps moving forward. We have lost a lot of faith in our ability to replace people adaquately. The summer we sold Lukaku for example, we didn't sign a proper striker as a replacement. We bought Rooney (a midfielder), Sigurdsson, Klaassen & Vlasic (all number 10's) and Sandro (a wide forward), all while we still still had Ross Barkley at the club.
I would tend to agree re players abroad, but we are back to what I said previously, which is that you need to be playing in Europe semi regularly to attract such players. Everton have played in Europe once in the last 5 years. Players from Europe don't want to leave teams challenging for honours in their league to a side that has been a long way off it in this country, especially in the age bracket you mention as they are about go into their peak years. I don't think Fofana, Soyuncu or Tielemans would have come here. The championship is definitely a recruitment ground I'd like to see us buy more from, but you still have to pay a bit of a premium, so it becomes a question of are you getting the right deal? You also have to ask, is a coach like Benitez really going to want to be working with championship players who need a lot of coaching, in the way say a Rodgers does?
In a roundabout way I'm saying it's not easy. What are your thoughts on Mcneil from a Leicester standpoint?
In full agreement mate, especially with paragraphs 2 & 3, that’s where the problem lies with you.
You may have had success with signing players for shrewd prices, selling them on for bigger fees; however from a opposition standpoint you probably don’t do it often enough and most importantly, who you replace them with are not adequate signings.
Our strategy is a never ending cycle. We lose Kante, replace him with a gem in Ndidi. We lose Maguire, we had Soyuncu already signed waiting in the wings. We lose Chilwell, we get in Castagne.
With Everton you may lose a key player, but then incomes Allan for £20 million, Doucoure for £20 million, Andre Gomes for £20 million, when it’s highly unlikely you’ll get double the value for them in a few years time.
I look at the Gray & Townsend potential signings for example, as we’ve said already, they might be shrewd and from a wage and price stand point, pretty sensible; however from a quality stand point they probably won’t be.
You want shut of Bernard & Iwobi, then you should be looking to replace them with someone like Olise who has just gone to Palace for £8 million. Young, talented, room to grow, then you’d probably end up getting double or triple in a few years, instead you’re getting Gray & Townsend.
When we got in the likes of Soyuncu, Maddison & Tielemans, we had finished 9th in the league, not challenging for Europe but the aspiration to do so was there, pretty much like yourselves at that period, our strategy since then has what I’ve mentioned above. During that period when we signed those, you were throwing money at the likes of Walcott, Andre Gomes, Iwobi, pretty much cast offs for a high price needing of a pick me up.
As for McNeil, we were linked with him last summer, some fans wanted him, some fans weren’t keen. Personally I think he’s much more of a skilled player than people give him credit for, probably because he plays for Burnley you automatically think tinpot. He’d probably be a better fit for you, as you have Calvert-Lewin up front.
