It is a testament to the legacy of Moyes and (to be fair) some shrewd moves by Martinez (who I have had some serious doubts about regarding transfers) that there is so much highly rated as well as young quality players in our side.
[Besides me hating international breaks for this reason amongst others - that the press have to fill their sports pages with something to replace the weekend previews and the manager witch hunts they orchestrate - so they up the speculation and unadulterated lies regards players at clubs and moves to the promised lands]
On the face of it, good business is getting wanton sums of cash for players out of the academy - because its as good as all profit. But with every such sale it devalues the credibility of the academy to the point that eventually the players coming through it see it as a stepping stone to a move elsewhere not a step to making it here at Everton.
Cashing in on players has been our Holy Grail, the one area we have looked to for salvation. It is exactly because we have been financially impeded that the youth scouting and the academy has had to work so hard to prop up a faltering and failing managerial merry go round and lacklustre transfer myopia. We have come close to the chop, it got too near too often and we survived it - part of the previous tenureship had a primary focus of working away from that and never returning to it. Success. Far too many overlook just how close to bust we were going, and it wasn't a one off, tipped as primary relegation favourites season after season and no realistic way out of such a predicament.
So, with our glass ceiling having been raised what now? The ownership know that the Stadium issue has to be resolved, hopefully we can agree on that and not drag this out with the wants and wherefores that stadia talk often descends too. Would selling our finest yound players pave the way for a stadium upgrade or a new build elsewhere? It'll have to be a big set of sales or such huge fees so as to mean only 3 or 4 sales.
The impact being, with such value removed from the playing side and transferred into the bricks and mortar of the club, would the support and management be happy to take such a huge backward step in terms of ambition and progress to facilitate a much more long term aim of becoming better than we currently are now both on and off the field.
I'm not sure Kenwright has the cojones to sell off Stones, Barkley, Coleman, McCarthy, Lukaku - even if getting in massive money meant he could sell us all a brand spanking new stadium with corp boxes, enough toilets and not an obstructed view in the house.
If the club can operate within its wage budget and continue to drive debt down as well as progress on the field with amazing signings like Coleman and Stones then perhaps short to medium term the club can get to a position where on a much more stable financial footing and with a helpful council and a long term corporate partner the club can get its stadium for the modern era without selling out its roots, its fans, its support, the few crown jewels it has left.
