Jean-Philippe Gbamin - Everton Complete Transfer of Defensive Midfielder

[RandoEFC+]

Potential replacement for Gueye.

[RandoEFC+]

 

[RandoEFC+]

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

Everton making some good moves this summer. I think you've got the best chance out of "the best of the rest" group under the top 6 to make break through into the top 6

[RandoEFC+]

11 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Everton making some good moves this summer. I think you've got the best chance out of "the best of the rest" group under the top 6 to make break through into the top 6

Top 6 is meaningless. 7th will get you Europa League anyway most seasons. It's a bit of a statement to finish ahead of an Arsenal or a Man Utd but the real aim has to be to get in the mix for the top four in the long run. Your gut reaction to that will be to laugh, but we have to try and "do a Spurs", or at least try, otherwise it's going to be further decades of irrelevance.

The difference between the current regime and the last one is stark though. I don't know about Steve Walsh but Koeman certainly saw us as a stepping stone and wanted to get us into the top six in two or three seasons. This was reflected in their transfer policy, buy players who are good now, get in the top six for his CV, and leave Everton with an average age of 29 and another massive rebuild to do. He signed Bolasie (now 30), Schneiderlin (now 29), Williams (now 34), Rooney (now 33), Sigurdsson (now 29). To be fair they also signed Lookman, Vlasic, Pickford, Keane who were younger but the priorities were clear with most signings.

Allardyce was much the same, his two signings were made to achieve his goals of a high league finish, Walcott and Tosun.

However, since Brands and Silva have been working together, we've signed Digne (26), Bernard (26), Mina (24), Richarlison (22), Gomes (26) and soon Kean (19) and Gbamin (23). There's actually a plan, at last, for making this money benefit the club in the long run.

People love bleating about how much money we've spent, and it is true, but we were left with no choice but to spend big as Moyes left us with an ageing squad, Howard, Distin, Jagielka, Hibbert, Osman, Baines all hit their 30s at a similar time, Martinez did a shit job of replacing most of them, followed by Koeman and Allardyce leaving us with another rebuilding job to do, which is finally progressing nicely. As a bonus Brands has managed to sell on a lot of the dead wood, most of them for a profit as well.

[Dr. Gonzo]

9 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Top 6 is meaningless. 7th will get you Europa League anyway most seasons. It's a bit of a statement to finish ahead of an Arsenal or a Man Utd but the real aim has to be to get in the mix for the top four in the long run. Your gut reaction to that will be to laugh, but we have to try and "do a Spurs", or at least try, otherwise it's going to be further decades of irrelevance.

The difference between the current regime and the last one is stark though. I don't know about Steve Walsh but Koeman certainly saw us as a stepping stone and wanted to get us into the top six in two or three seasons. This was reflected in their transfer policy, buy players who are good now, get in the top six for his CV, and leave Everton with an average age of 29 and another massive rebuild to do. He signed Bolasie (now 30), Schneiderlin (now 29), Williams (now 34), Rooney (now 33), Sigurdsson (now 29). To be fair they also signed Lookman, Vlasic, Pickford, Keane who were younger but the priorities were clear with most signings.

Allardyce was much the same, his two signings were made to achieve his goals of a high league finish, Walcott and Tosun.

However, since Brands and Silva have been working together, we've signed Digne (26), Bernard (26), Mina (24), Richarlison (22), Gomes (26) and soon Kean (19) and Gbamin (23). There's actually a plan, at last, for making this money benefit the club in the long run.

People love bleating about how much money we've spent, and it is true, but we were left with no choice but to spend big as Moyes left us with an ageing squad, Howard, Distin, Jagielka, Hibbert, Osman, Baines all hit their 30s at a similar time, Martinez did a shit job of replacing most of them, followed by Koeman and Allardyce leaving us with another rebuilding job to do, which is finally progressing nicely. As a bonus Brands has managed to sell on a lot of the dead wood, most of them for a profit as well.

I feel like if you finish top 6 it means you were in the mix for top 4 for much of the season. With seasons in transition, any steps forward are positive. What've you've said demonstrates that Everton are working on a project for the long haul. Let's say the season is very competitive at the top end this season and finishing in 5th or 6th means you narrowly missed out on top 4 by a point or two. I'd argue that's still a massive improvement from last season, which in a long term project is important.

Obviously getting CL football as early as possible is ideal and should be what the club is hoping for. But I think Everton could still have what could be considered a successful season by breaking into that top 6, so long as they're showing improvement on last season. Brands and Silva seem to be pretty shrewd on the transfer market, they're signing good players at good value with their peak years ahead of them.

I think arguably your most important signing of the season is Moise Kean, who's a very good young player and he's coming into a side that I think is ideal for a young player to come into and get plenty of opportunities to make a name for himself. But he is young and it is a new league, so while I think he'll end up being a brilliant signing for you (as much as it pains me to admit), I wouldn't be surprised if there's some bedding in time which may harm your chances of top 4. And I don't think Everton will make top 4 this season... but I do think you'll see a lot of encouraging signs for the coming seasons and if this upward trajectory continues, that's still positive as fuck for the club.

[RandoEFC+]

Confirmed.