Steve_E

And other "proven" Premier League players like Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam...

So Jags is going to be ready to play? I'd think about starting Tarashaj up top.

Who? That wing player is still going to have to drop into a line of five at the back when the opposition has the ball near the Everton box, etc. You'll almost exclusively find full backs playing that wing back role.

Frankly I'm surprised Swansea conceded any goals at all last season, let alone 52. What with Ashley Williams leading their back line. Let's not go overboard, guys.

Why not? Coleman would still start when they go 3 at the back, so he needs cover. I'm afraid it's going to be Holgate though, I would rather see him go out on loan to someplace he'll play centre back if we're getting Koné as well.

... £30m for an attacker who averages three goals a season ... You bet it seems steep.

For the life of me I don't get why people believe any of these "in the knows". They've all been talking about Witsel, Carvalho and Mata. None had any inkling about Gueye, Williams, Bolasie...

The actual people involved contradicted that though.

£9m fee, 3-year deal for Williams apparently.

Add about 18 million for Lamine Koné as well probably.

I was fine with Gueye. Williams I'm against as I do think 12m is too much as he's no more than average and leaving his prime. I put a lot more trust in Voetbal International than I do in The Sun and they're saying Bony will be closer to £25m. Up to £30m for Yannick Bolasie is so crazy it's actually unbelievable. He had 20 key passes last season, which puts him at the same level as James McArthur and Alan Hutton, but below Craig Gardner, Lucas Leiva, Daley Blind, Lee Cattermole, Glenn Whelan. Aaron Lennon had 23 key passes in 3/4th of the minutes Bolasie played, Gerard Deulofeu had 26 in 681 minutes less than Bolasie... He's actually well-below average in terms of efficiency.

The problem is we are going to spend big money and more than likely pay daft wages but we're going to do it to get bang average players.

Incredibly underwhelmed with the club's new brain trust.

I'd confidently put Voetbal International above any English source (newspaper or SSN), bar the BBC, in terms of trustworthiness.

They're saying it'll be about 30m euro, which is £25.6m, to be clear.

We're getting him for 30 million euros, according to the leading Dutch sports magazine.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was convinced that Rodwell wasn't even good enough for Everton by the time he was sold to City, so that's a bit of a different situation to Stones. But sure, I guess everything is possible. I know what I believe to be the more likely outcome though.

We'd be daft to let him go. He's only two years older than Distin was when we signed him.

Mané is younger and has scored in double figures in the Premier League for two seasons running. Bolasie is no more efficient than Mirallas.

Wait until the 2018-19 season when Williams is backing up whoever we have starting at centre back then and we've spent the 35m on Idrissa Gueye and Yannick Bolasie while Stones is starting for Manchester City and England and prices have skyrocketed further.

Bolasie would be a disaster if we're genuinely going to pay the 30m that Palace are reportedly asking for.

Don't think either of them are world class talents. Deulofeu is closer to it than Barkley though.

It was 7m for Gueye and I'm not only talking about the players we've signed, but also about the players we're linked with: Bolasie, Williams, Fonte, Dann...

Everyone needs some pace (Leon Osman was a clever player, he was a liability on the pitch the last couple of seasons regardless), defenders aren't an exception to that. And Distin indeed needed his pace to be a positive and he was exceptional in that he kept his pace far longer than most other players do, but he's also exceptional in that he simply played far longer than most players do. Not everyone plays at a Premier League level until they're 38.

Not disputing any of that, but I don't see how that guarantees he'll play well into his thirties? What if whatever pace he does have goes?