It’s a bit tricky if we don’t have inside info on Walsh. Maybe he could have made it here first time but wanted to get away and rack up a load of experience a la Sancho?
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It’s a bit tricky if we don’t have inside info on Walsh. Maybe he could have made it here first time but wanted to get away and rack up a load of experience a la Sancho?
From memory he kept getting really unlucky with either injuries or being on loan at the wrong time, where injuries in the first team saw the likes of Davies & Baningime jump ahead of him in the cue (Think Charsley even got minutes in the last game of the season one year?).
Think his size potentially hurt him along with the above, Davies a year younger was more physically ready to handle it. & unlike a Barkley who had the ability & size, I think injuries + being small really hurt his chances.
Otherwise though, agreed. I watched quite a bit of the youth games back then and he would completely control games. Was so flat when he eventually left and remember telling my Bristol City mate that they’d signed a good one.
Billy Dean
Player Valuation: £70m
Good to see him settling down now though and hopefully he can push on from there. I still think we'll see him and Ledson in the Prem at some point.
Bluelladevil
Player Valuation: £750k
Pretty sure he is out of contract in June. Signing any player is a risk so you have to weigh up the factors .
1. Financial -no transfer fee and would likely accept sensible wage. He has to prove himself at the top to secure for himself a top level wage.
2. English - all players we seem to be linked with are foreign , particularly South American so we need young home grown players in the squad to meet requirements.
3. Settling in - he was at the club as a kid. He's local with family here. So no risk whatsoever. Buy any foreign player and there's always a risk they won't settle in.
4. Ability - his passing is truly exceptional particularly the weight of pass. Imagine if Richarlison was on the end of those passes.
5. Tackling - the clip doesn't show any of his defensive work but, having seen him a few times, he's extremely brave and gets stuck in. A bit too brave for his own good as I recall at Bolton in Checkatrade competition he was kid but went in for a 50/50 with a big meathead and came off badly. But at least he wouldn't chicken out - of the current players, who gets stuck in? Er... Umm...
6. Attitude - recall him saying in an article he has to win in any game he plays. He has a will to win. Compare that to the likes of Schneiderlin , Sigurdsson and the like. A shrug of the shoulders is about the only reaction you get to a defeat. They console themselves in the knowledge that they have pilfered another £100k from the club that week. Walsh has it all to prove .He'd be hungry and ambitious.
7. Everton is his club. When we need that extra effort, that extra 10%, a home grown player will find it. They have a greater motivation for their club to succeed. Not saying foreign players don't have this but they have to have that within their own mentality.
The negatives?
1. Size - yes he is small and the trend seems to be for bigger players but that would mean you'd never buy Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Scholes, Modric - the list is endless.
2. Lower division - as I say any signing is a risk but you look at a player's qualities and decide will they cope with the Premier League. Just look at his first touch in the clips, his vision, his weight of pass, his pace and ability to beat a player, his striking of the ball in his goals. He has all of those qualities. And again if you think we should be wary of buying a player from a lower division we would never have had Trevor Steven, Tim Cahill - again the list is endless of great players who came from lower divisions. For me buying a player from a foreign league can be a bigger risk.
3. Past - tragically we let him go without giving him a chance and he may hold some resentment against the club for that. But it was Koeman who sold him and we've moved on since then so who knows.
So weighing up the risks it seems a wonderful opportunity to bring him back.
Compare that to rolling the dice with £30m and £50k per week wages on that fool Kean.
If you're still unsure bear this in mind - a player who was 5'6" with a record of bad injuries, bought from a team in a lower division, a local lad - but with a will to win stronger than any we've had since - Peter Reid.
...he’s terrific. He’s been outstanding for Coventry, I backed them to win the league @ 28-1 at the start of the season despite playing all their home games at Birmingham City so have watched them a bit.
Magical little player with a bit of attitude, he’s struggled since he left but seems to have found his form. To be fair, decisions have to be made with these youngsters and not many come back to haunt us. Be interesting if Walsh finds a route back to the top, I imagine clubs are taking an interest.
i think his hero is Steven Gerrard.
Sorry mate I can’t agree with your “, it certainly needed looking at and has stagnated since Martin Waldron left nearly two years ago.”. Waldron was Academy recruitment so he would have been involved in recruiting our current 2nd year Scholars, we have a ban on recruiting from other Academies so not much we can do there , but the 1st year Scholars and u16s we’ve played this season are the best we’ve had for years , so our Academy is hardly stagnating.
Cameron Manning
Player Valuation: £35m
Yes there some good ones coming through I agree, I just hope they continue to improve the more they play, if it’s under the present coaches I have my doubts.
BornBlue76
Player Valuation: £35m
Yep, I recall him going on loan and then there was an injury crisis which pushed Davies up to the first team jumping over Walsh... bad timing and perception on size part of his Problems..
Memory might be hazy but recall that loan hurting his chances.
TheBigIguana
Player Valuation: £100m
It's still insane that we moved Gordon to the first team squad and essentially stopped him from playing real football matches for 6 months right when he was hitting his stride.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
If you go back a few years on this thread (or similar threads from the archive) you will see me waxing lyrical about Walsh as a 15 year old. He was a brilliant young player. He would absolutely run the game at youth level. There was one derby game, where we won 5-0 and could have been double that, where he was head and shoulders above his opponents. First touch, passing range, game intelligence was sublime.
The other side of all of this was a size factor though. I always felt if he made it here, it would be at probably 21. He was a tiny lad. I think you have to have a really brave and established manager to be prepared to throw a lad in, who's 5 ft 6 (now perhaps 5 ft 5/4 then) and weighs about 9 stone. The move from Martinez in an odd way probably didn't do him or any of the young players much good. The outlook of the club changed under Moshiri, it was more about instant success and power/experience were prioritised under Koeman/Allardyce for those 2 years.
I think we have to get better at sell on fees and buy backs, but in essence it's difficult. In the case of Lundstrom and Walsh both would have expired, and both moved down before coming up. What young players need is often 50 competitive games to find their feet and begin to work problems out. He is getting that now, but I'm not sure we, or most PL can really just give most young players 50 games.
The loan system is sort of a half way house. In some cases it works, but I always have my doubts as to how committed a young player is, when he knows deep down there is always the get out of going back to the PL club, facilities, support network etc at the end of it. Do you strive that bit harder, go that extra mile if you know there is no back up if it doesn't work out?
Walsh has done really well. He would do well to maybe do another at Coventry, maybe get promoted with them, and bigger clubs will come calling, as he has wonderful ability, far more so than most championship midfielders. I wish him well, but I doubt he'd have progressed at Everton.
....I recall a Walsh having an extremely successful loan spell at Yeovil, so he did have a solid grounding of competitive football. They loved him there.
We all assume he actually wanted to stay at Everton, but i wouldn’t be surprised if he‘d hinted he wouldn’t be signing a new contract. He has struggled since he left and we shouldn’t forget he’s on loan at Coventry. Bristol agreed to loan rather than utilise him.
Totally agree to sell-on clauses, even if very few come back to haunt us. Also agree about the worth of loan deals, not many of our loanees go on to have a future with us. I think an open-age Central League is worthy of consideration.
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Yeah you make a good point on Walsh re Yeovil, he was still with the u18s then which was Young for someone to go on loan, and he was rated for his combativeness despite his size. He’d was really unlucky when he got called up to the England U20s squad , got injured , didn’t feature and they won the World Cup. I wish and hope that he has a great career , but realistically we are not going to get back a 22 year old who hasn’t proven himself at Championship level yet.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
He did and he trained with the first team the following season but didnt do enough to make a debut. That's the hardest part really. Cementing to a manager you are a first team player.
Players needs games, and its hard to get them games. I'm pleased to see him do well.
I think, in honesty him, William's, Connolly, Kenny all suffered because Moshiri came in. Without Moshiris money, they all probably get more of a chance, and maybe have saved us a few quid.
You have to be really special to make it at Everton now.
Cameron Manning
Player Valuation: £35m
Brilliant little player, never understood Everton letting him go, although Liam himself was ambitious and wanted the move, Everton should have persuaded him to stay, watched him since he was sixteen, never stopped improving, practiced relentlessly and wanted to succeed, it definitely won’t surprise me when he gets back to the premier league.