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January Transfer Thread 2020

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Lanolin said:
He was 25 turning 26 when we bought him, which is what would be relevant in terms of resale and prospective improvement.

Again, nobody is saying the squad is older or we should buy younger players, I was simply responding to a poster who appeared to be under the same misapprehension as the one I was talking to yesterday, that we have a squad full of young players who are likely to improve. We don't.
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Apologies do you mean as a permanent signing? Yes that is true, I was referring to the initial (loan) deal.

As for the 2nd point, I do think the squad will improve, it is one of the youngest squads in the league, but the scale of that improvement may be overstated.

As it happens I think we have a pretty good fit of a manager to enact that improvement too. As I think I said initially, the issue for me is now consistency and game nous. In terms of general performance level I don't see enormous strides, but in terms of how we tactically see our games that is a key area of improvement and one where I would like to see improvement (and an area I sense Ancelotti will do very well in).

There is really not a lot wrong with this squad in terms of where we want to get too over the foreseeable. Since Silva left we have been the joint 3rd best team in the league (along with Southampton). Within that period I suspect had we shown a bit more game nous we could have had 2 more points against Newcastle, and had we not suffered the injuries we have had I think we get over the line at United and probably defeat Arsenal. (If we do 2 of the above 3 we are 2nd in said form table).

Now of course a lot of this is down to the general standard of the league as much as any comment on how well we have played. However with each week that goes buy I become more convinced Silva was really the central problem. In truth I didn't get that sense anywhere near as much with Allardyce, Koeman or even Martinez. Certainly not after 9 league games, it started to become clearer to me the squads they had were quite unbalanced and lacking in quality.

We do need to get our players back, Iwobi, Gomes and Gbamin. It will be really interesting to see how much more Ancelotti can get out of them (considering the improvements we have seen with Calvert Lewin and Kean). He's tactically astute and I just have a sense that Iwobi will be a player he likes.

But yes, I think it's a probably a deeper question, and I do agree with lots of what you say (this side isn't just going to magically keep soaring) I do believe consistency and game acumen can and should get better, which is a key area we've been lacking.
 
catcherintherye said:
It doesn't come as an enormous surprise to me if we do. I felt if Ancelotti was going to go big this window it would have been done early, and probably picking up a couple of high profile names from Serie A (As you say Koulibaly, possibly Allan).

However it doesn't look as if that will be the approach taken. It looks far more as if Brands remains in charge of recruitment. It will probably prevent us having an immediate boost in terms of this season, but in terms of the wider picture it's perhaps for the best. It's interesting , in tone and approach I've been a little surprised (and impressed with Ancelotti). He seems far less focussed on the short-term and far more focussed on the medium term than I anticipated. There have been overtures towards wanting to be with the club over a period of time, he obviously has a 4.5 year deal and we have seen him promote lads who are as young as 16 to the first team squad to train. None of this hints at a man who just wants to buy 3 or 4 trusted players to work well for him over the next 18 months then ride off into the sunset.

I also think the upturn in form has killed a lot of necessity for players. In a specific sense Holgate and Calvert Lewin's improvement (and the promise Kean showed the other night) have really dampened the requirement for both a centre half and a centre forward (which felt imperative 6 and potentially even 4 weeks ago). If you are then looking at the medium term, January becomes a recruiting ground becomes a difficult window to recruit in.

I think we are in quite a strong position. Were we where West Ham are, or Bournemouth there would be enormous pressure to pay the asking price for Vecino and possibly Everton (and you can bet those fees would be higher than they are now). It is good we are holding firm and continuing to push the price down for both (we have suffered from overpaying for some time). I wouldn't rule out one or either coming in, and for fees that are a fair bit below what the quoted prices are now. That both Gremio and Inter collapse at the las minute and take whats on offer (as we would with Schneiderlin/Sigurdsson).

If it doesn't happen though, and through brinksmanship the deals collapse then so be it. While the season has gone disastrously I don't really put that down to not signing Zouma. Not signing Zouma has allowed Holgate to emerge (and to a degree Mina though I still want more from him). Last season we didn't buy any players in January and the form improved. Other seasons we've bought players and the form has really tailed off. I'm not saying it's as simple as this or it's a direct correlation, but neither does signing players automatically improve your team.

It will be frustrating but my hope is that this season is used as a long pre-season for the manager, much like how Rodgers did with Leicester. I'd love to finish 5th (which we still can) but this has to be alongside the former not instead of. How positive would it be, in 12 months time to be sat here, in 2nd or 3rd place absolutely flying because we were able to show some patience at the start of the calendar year? I still see that as a real possibility. We have an opportunity to do that, and it would be a shame to waste it because we think about what the club needs over the next 3 months in a season which has limited options for success.
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Good post and I agree with much of it. The thing is though Leicester brought in Tielmans last seasonn(if I remember rightly) and Rodgers spent the remainder of last season bedding in his philosophy with that addition. Carlo can do the latter but maybe he needs an addition to aid that? Back to the age thing whilst we might have a core of players entering that 25-30 bracket my point was the senior players we have are largely not delivering so we do need a few senior professionals and leaders to go with the younger players and prime age players we are developing.Morgan, Sig, Delph, Walcott,Coleman none of these players are our future and whilst the idea behind signing Delph was solid I don't think he's physically up to consistent premier league games. Vecino in that context of say midfield options next season of Vecino, Gbamin, Gomes, Iwobi, Davies and maybe one other(other playmaking/ box to box player) having shifted (if we can ) Delph, Morgan, Walcott nd Sig is a reasobable mix of experience and types of midfielder to fulfill the requirements of a 442 or 433 system.
 
billyblue80 said:
Good post and I agree with much of it. The thing is though Leicester brought in Tielmans last season and Rodgers bedding in his philosophy with that addition. Back to the age thing whilst we might have a core of players entering that 25-30 bracket my point was the senior players we have are largely not delivering so we do need a few senior professionals and leaders to go with the younger players and prime age players we are developing, Morgan, Sig, Delph, Walcott,Coleman none of these players are our future and whilst the idea behind signing Delph was solid I don't think he's physically up to consistent premier league games physically. Vecino in that context of say a midfield options next season of Vecino, Gbamin, Gomes, Iwobi, Davies and maybe one other(other playmaking/ box having box having) having shifted (if we can ) Delph, Morgan, and Sig is a reasobable mix of experience and types of midfielder to fulfill the requirements of a 442 or 433 system.
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Thanks Billy and you too.

We have 6 months for Ancelotti to really bed in what he is trying to do, and you feel it's important that this opportunity is not wasted.

I would also agree, that a lot of the senior players haven't been as consistent and we would hope. That has been a big issue and is probably driving the Vecino pursuit.
 

Lanolin said:
I'll add 'words' to 'football' on the list of things you don't understand then.
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To be clear, the point about buying young was not about the improvement of the team, but the value of the players. Its growth. So no, I don't think you understand the point. Seems like you missed it entirely.
 
Never understood why sites like jargeofacto.com are being linked as sources for rumours. I think the esk has a bigger hit percentage.

Literally just don’t bother lads
 
Ring master said:
As ever with Everton its comming down to the final day or so, even the final hour or 2, so i wonder who the press and co will say on saturday that we missed out on because we took to long,or even say who we missed out on that we were never even trying for lol
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We will bring in 2 on the last day and throw out the quotes that we’ve been interested all month.
I am yet to see one real link to anyone yet, it’s all paper talk because this window has been one of the quietest ever.
 

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