John Stones

[Jags..class]

Op

Guardiola and Mourihno want him, he's going to go for £50m and people are happy to wave him off?

I do worry about Evertonians sometimes, genuinely do.

What do you expect the fans to do?cry and mope. City paid 50 million for sterling? PSG paid 50 for luiz. Maybe the fans know he wants out and we are happy to replace him with someone who wants to come to us.

 

[beautifulthing]

Op


What do you expect the fans to do?cry and mope. City paid 50 million for sterling? PSG paid 50 for luiz. Maybe the fans know he wants out and we are happy to replace him with someone who wants to come to us.

One of the many, many reasons to thank God fans aren't in charge of recruitment / selling.

 

[Caolam]

Surely we can't let him go until we have signed his replacement. Hopefully with the DoF in place, we will now see some players actually being bought.

 

[PhilM]

Guardiola and Mourihno want him, he's going to go for £50m and people are happy to wave him off?

I do worry about Evertonians sometimes, genuinely do.

Unfortunately, there's a growing percentage of our fans who are more than happy to draw the knives on a player once their 'loyalty' is questioned.

Just look at the reaction to Rom at the latter stages of last season: he went from being somewhat idolised and a great talent to being lambasted.

It's quite embarrassing really; John may not be the finished article yet, and is prone to mistakes, but as you said both Pep and José want him.

There's a difference in accepting that he'll most probably leave and showing some grace and being magnanimous towards the decisions....

... and the spite many of our fans are now showing.

 

[d4kyxx]

You're going to be very surprised then lad.

He's club captain, and probably still our best 'out and out' defender. Plus he's only turning 34, not 38/39. Still got a season in him at the highest level at least.

What I'd like to see is a lot of the Stones money being re-invested into a high quality replacement. If after the first few weeks of the campaign then it looks as if the kids aren't good enough for fourth choice, then we go out and get a half-decent stop-gap in to boost the squad.

If they don't look good enough. So once we've leaked goals and dropped points you mean?

 

[Quim]

Scott Dann is slow and therefore has to play too deep, thought he was a great centre back at one stage but he is limited and playing in a team that plays further up the pitch, he will get caught out. Shawcross I like, good old fashioned centre back, playing alongside The Beast would be very formidable.....

Yeah that's a fair point. I think if your mate alongside you is pacy you can get away with being a bit slower though as long as you have a brain. I, like you, do prefer a proper old fashioned centre half though. I like defenders to play centre half leave the other 8 men to play football

 

[jackyboy]

Rugani would be immense. Imagine having an Italian and an Argentinian as our centre backs.

 

[Abraders]

Unfortunately, there's a growing percentage of our fans who are more than happy to draw the knives on a player once their 'loyalty' is questioned.

Just look at the reaction to Rom at the latter stages of last season: he went from being somewhat idolised and a great talent to being lambasted.

It's quite embarrassing really; John may not be the finished article yet, and is prone to mistakes, but as you said both Pep and José want him.

There's a difference in accepting that he'll most probably leave and showing some grace and being magnanimous towards the decisions....

... and the spite many of our fans are now showing.

Lukaku criticised his teammates openly, if any player did that I'd be mad, and I'd expect the team around him to be phased by it too.

He literally deserved everything he got, despite this if he shuts his mouth we will quietly get on and support rom.

 

[PhilM]

Lukaku criticised his teammates openly, if any player did that I'd be mad, and I'd expect the team around him to be phased by it too.

He literally deserved everything he got, despite this if he shuts his mouth we will quietly get on and support rom.

Not to be obtuse, but when did he openly criticise his team mates? From memory, I have recollections of him desiring Champions League football.

I also remember him mentioning broken relationships with the manager post-Martinez departure. His agent occasionally waded in as well.

Yet, I have no recollection of him ever speaking ill of either the club, his team mates or most importantly the fans. Google brings up nothing either!

Maybe the timing wasn't perfect and it could have been managed better, but all I remember was him expressing his desire to challenge and progress.

Many of ours fans though began baying for his blood because of this and labelling him as useless etc. Now the mood has somewhat mellowed again.

My point is that our fan base is becoming pretty knee-jerk, showing little respect or class and rapidly varying; something we often had in abundance.

Personally, I would love John to stay and that's accepting that he's not the finished article, however some of the comments on here are ludicrous.

 

[BlueToff]

If they don't look good enough. So once we've leaked goals and dropped points you mean?

no not at all. The kids will play in pre-season and will be assessed. They won't be starting league games if Jags, Mori and whoever Stones' replacement is.

From what Koeman sees in training he'll be able to assess whether they are capable of being fourth choice, or whether he needs to go out and bring another player in.

 

[Abraders]

Not to be obtuse, but when did he openly criticise his team mates? From memory, I have recollections of him desiring Champions League football.

I also remember him mentioning broken relationships with the manager post-Martinez departure. His agent occasionally waded in as well.

Yet, I have no recollection of him ever speaking ill of either the club, his team mates or most importantly the fans. Google brings up nothing either!

Maybe the timing wasn't perfect and it could have been managed better, but all I remember was him expressing his desire to challenge.

Many of ours fans though began baying for his blood because of this and labelling him as useless etc. Now the mood has somewhat mellowed again.

My point is that our fan base is becoming pretty knee-jerk and showing little respect or class; something we often had in abundance.

Lukaku was quoted saying 'his teammates weren't up to his level over the last few weeks and life at everton is hard', despite saying this during his draught of not scoring in 11 games and missing the most important penalty we had...

I put the link in the lukaku thread somewhere previously. Surprised so many people overlooked this!

We've always acted with dignity (the fans), but we've always and always will have knee jerk reactions too!

 

[Abraders]

Not to be obtuse, but when did he openly criticise his team mates? From memory, I have recollections of him desiring Champions League football.

I also remember him mentioning broken relationships with the manager post-Martinez departure. His agent occasionally waded in as well.

Yet, I have no recollection of him ever speaking ill of either the club, his team mates or most importantly the fans. Google brings up nothing either!

Maybe the timing wasn't perfect and it could have been managed better, but all I remember was him expressing his desire to challenge and progress.

Many of ours fans though began baying for his blood because of this and labelling him as useless etc. Now the mood has somewhat mellowed again.

My point is that our fan base is becoming pretty knee-jerk, showing little respect or class and rapidly varying; something we often had in abundance.

Personally, I would love John to stay and that's accepting that he's not the finished article, however some of the comments on here are ludicrous.

Found the quote in the metro.. can't paste the link on my phone but it's more like this
'In recent weeks everton were difficult. As a striker my performance depends on my teammates but I continued to work hard. I am mentally ready for the euros'

In my opinion this is a sly dig at his teammates.

Which came after missing the penalty vs United. He then stunk out the euros. He'd be better off just staying quiet!

 

[PhilM]

Lukaku was quoted saying 'his teammates weren't up to his level over the last few weeks and life at everton is hard',

Sorry, however, in my humble opinion you're to an extent either intentionally or unintentionally misconstruing what he actually said.

The quote was, "“The last few weeks at Everton were quite difficult". This at a time with Martinez under pressure and our performances low.

Is it too unrealistic to expect that it may have been difficult for the players as well, with all the uncertainty arouse, as it was for us fans?

"As a striker, I also depend on the supply of my teammates, but I continue to work hard." This was in reference to his lack of recent goals.

You may see it as a sly dig, however I see it more as an argument for why his goals have dried up - suggesting the form of the team wasn't good.

As a striker who wasn't to put himself in the market a lack of goals isn't a particularly strong selling point, so the team's poor form is a reason.

 

[RickyMartin]

I'm 100% sure he will be off but I'm not really sure what the hold up is.

City are going to have pay the desired price and they will, it's very simple.

Get a move on.

Great player by the way, unfortunate he's leaving us but he doesn't want to be here. We move on.

 

[Abraders]

Sorry, however, in my humble opinion you're to an extent either intentionally or unintentionally misconstruing what he actually said.

The quote was, "“The last few weeks at Everton were quite difficult". This at a time with Martinez under pressure and our performances low.

Is it too unrealistic to expect that it may have been difficult for the players as well, with all the uncertainty arouse, as it was for us fans?

"As a striker, I also depend on the supply of my teammates, but I continue to work hard." This was in reference to his lack of recent goals.

You may see it as a sly dig, however I see it more as an argument for why his goals have dried up - suggesting the form of the team wasn't good.

I did correct the quote as it was from memory originally, in the post below mate!

I do think it's a dig. Everton was depending on lukaku performance, and his inability to hit a barn door during the final 11 games. He said this quote somewhere after the United cup game when he blew the penalty!

'Continued to work hard', he looked lazier than he ever was in the final weeks, saving himself for the euros because we had nothing to play for.

Not saying it wouldn't be hard on other teammates etc, but I think his comments were unfair when he was our biggest let down come the final 3rd of the season!