Dream Team - Future edition*

[Lowensda]

I'm bored, looking through article after article and scouting reports, looking for youth players at other clubs and I'd thought I'd start a new topic

 

This is just a 'fun' exercise, so if someone wants to move this, then fine.

 

Money is no object. Everton are looking for 5 players to help them dominate in the future. They must sign 5 and they can be in any position (all in the same position if you want!?).

 

They are looking at a hotbed of youth players and already established youngsters, to really help push them on and assert themselves as a major footballing force within the next 10 years.

 

As mentioned, no budget but they must be under the age of 21.

 

State their name, current age, current club and why you think they'll be 'the next big thing' (if you wish to be lazy and paste in articles instead of paragraphing reasons, feel free).

 

I'd like to see if anyone else has similar ideas to mine and see whether people can come up with names that I have yet to come across?

 

Look forward to your responses....

[pete0]

I've cut down on the foreign footy so my list won't be the most comprehensive.

First pick, pipping Barkley, Oscar, and Gotze, is Isco - Attacking Mid. Absolutely class, one reason why Spain aren't worried about their ageing stars.

Xhaka - Central mid. Only one with some bite to him I can think of (Ideally to build a great team you need a solid DM and CB, but not many are mature so young). Swap with Rodwell if he develops.

Nastasic - has done well for City, done better than most under 21's I can think of.

Alaba - Left Back. All great teams are built on the foundation of a great left back

Wellington - Striker. Twitter buzz about the next big thing from Brazil.

 

Tempted to put Green from the early words coming from the club.

 

Team with some slight rule breaking with 22 year olds Schurrle and Alan Dzagoev based on the Euros.

Curtois

Clyne* Duffy Nastasic Alaba

Holby Dzagoev Xhaka Schurrle

Isco

Wellington

 

*Some TT member rates him highly

[Peter H]

Ill put one guy forward now. Swedish guy, mentioned him before and posted a video.

 

Def mid - Simon Tibbling. The guy set the swedish top flight on fire last season and he was born in 1994. Expect him to become a lot better this year. (we have our seasons in spring-autumn). Him and Barkley next to each other might be a really good center midfield.

 

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/simon-tibbling/videoanzeigen/spieler_192985.html

[Steve_E]

I'd like to see if anyone else has similar ideas to mine and see whether people can come up with names that I have yet to come across?

 

Some of the more obvious choices have already been named (Courtois, Götze, Isco, though Wilshere has been overlooked, he's only 20 as well) and I know you seem to follow the Dutch league at least a little bit, so you probably already know about Christian Eriksen (20, CAM), Adam Maher (19, CM) and Filip Djuricic (20, CAM). So I'll try to pick 5 players you might not have heard of, though I sometimes post about them in This Weekend's Footy thread:

 

Viktor Fischer, 18, winger/forward, Ajax: 3 goals and 3 assists in his first 7 league games for Ajax. Scored two goals in Ajax 0-3 trumping of Barcelona in the Next-Gen series last season.

 

Lucas Andersen, 18, winger/forward, Ajax: made his debut for Ajax this weekend against Groningen. Played for a little more than ten minutes and hit the post. Already played about 40 games for Aalborg in Denmark. Supposed to have great vision, technique and feel for the game.

 

Stefano Denswil, 19, centre back, Ajax: left-footed ball-playing centre back with a cracking free kick. Here he scores one against Internazionale in the finale of the Next-Gen tournament.

 

 

Tonny Trindade de Vilhena, 17, CAM, Feyenoord: Star of the Dutch U17 European Champions, scored in the finale against Germany. Has got it all.

 

 

Jean-Paul Boëtius, 18, winger, Feyenoord: made his debut in the Dutch "Classico" against Ajax. He was the star of the show and could do no wrong.

[Scunny_Lad_Adz]

Neymar - No explanation needed, one of the best players in the world already.

Jack Butland - Going to be a top keeper, no doubts about it.

Wilfried Zaha - The lad's got bags of potential, and we could use more attacking players tbh.

Jack Wilshire -Surprised no one's said him yet, he's only 20 but already (probably) Arsenal's best player.

Carl Jenkinson - Another young Englishman from Arsenal, and potentially the best English RB since Gary Neville.

[Steve_E]

In the Belgian league, there's not a lot of very good young talent at the moment imo. There's one future superstar though: Dennis Praet. He's 18, an attacking midfielder and plays for Anderlecht. He used to play for Genk's academy but when he was 16 he was courted by Ajax, Barcelona, Lille, Arsenal, Real Madrid... and he signed for Genk's rival Anderlecht. He's earning €800.000 a year (which is the 11th highest wage in the league, according to a recent study) since his 16th birthday, Anderlecht were that desperate to get him. He played for Anderlecht's academy at first, he won the "Best Player Award" at the prestigious Aegon Future Cup in Amsterdam among others. He has broken into their first team this season and is now a regular starter for them. He's got 5 goals and 4 assists in 19 games (among those are Champions League games) so far. He oozes class.

 

Here's a clip of him mainly against other Academy sides, Brazilian Fluminense and Bayern Munich among others:

 

 

And here's some footage of him in Anderlecht's first team:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_GcApMyb2s

 

That was already uploaded on october 31th, so it's only from a couple of the games he's played, yet there's some brilliant stuff in the first 50 seconds or so.

Edited December 9, 2012 by Steve_E

[Steve_E]

In the Belgian league, there's not a lot of very good young talent at the moment imo.

 

However there's supposed to be a simply ridiculously good U17 generation, with 5 stand-outs: Charly Musonda Jr, Zakaria Bakkali, Andreas Pereira, Siebe Schrijvers and Mathias Bossaerts. There's quite a focus on youth in Belgium and these guys have actually been discussed as future superstars for the last 1 or 2 years on national television by experts. I don't know what good that will do em, I find it a bit ridiculous honestly. Anyway, they recently qualified for the European Championship U17 in May. However, I think a couple of them have already made some shit career decisions by moving to the top English clubs where they will probably never get a chance in the first team and eventually fade away.

 

Charly Musonda Jr is a playmaker who left Anderlecht for Chelsea last season, despite being the son of a former Anderlecht legend, much to Anderlecht's frustration. Chelsea gave his father a job and even took Charly's less talented brothers on as well. He's supposed to be a mix of Xavi and Iniesta and actually trained with Chelsea's first team this week, at age 16.

 

 

Andreas Pereira is a creative midfielder who left PSV for Manchester United. He and his fellow Belgian Zakaria Bakkali were supposed to be PSV's biggest talents. Here's an English language article on him with a 10-minute youtube clip.

 

http://bleacherrepor...igning-from-psv

 

If i have a look at redcafe he seems to be doing well over there. There's another Belgian in their academy, Adnan Januzaj, who they seem to be impressed by as well.

 

Zakaria Bakkali is a winger for PSV. Despite being heavily courted in the summer by City, he signed a 3 year contract with PSV. However he now seems unhappy with PSV and reportedly wants to leave, apparently he was promised he'd be given more first team opportunities already. English language article with a brilliant 5 minute Youtube-clip:

 

http://transfernewsc...akaria-bakkali/

 

Mathias Bossaerts is a centre back who left Anderlecht for Manchester City this summer. He used to be called The New Kompany at Anderlecht, I suppose they can keep using that nickname at City.

 

Siebe Schrijvers is a creative forward/midfielder who made the sensible decision to stay in Belgium, with Genk. He'll probably be starting their within a year, possibly two.

Edited December 9, 2012 by Steve_E

[Bailey]

Eriksen is one player I would love at the club. I think he would be the perfect player for our current set up to replace Osman.

[c1982]

I like Shaqiri now at Bayern - followed his progress for a few years now.

[Steve_E]

I like Shaqiri now at Bayern - followed his progress for a few years now.

 

He's 21 though!

[c1982]

He's 21 though!

 

Under 21 in a football sense can mean 23years old though!

 

[Steve_E]

Eriksen is one player I would love at the club. I think he would be the perfect player for our current set up to replace Osman.

 

Great player. Incredibly skillfull:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osv3xjzkoV0

 

He should still score more though. He can be quite lethargic as well. He'll be way too expensive for us though. Dennis Praet is a similar player and he might still be in our price range. Though I doubt we'll be able to get him. Anderlecht know too that his worth is going to rise incredibly in the next two years so they won't be willing to sell now.

[rubecula]

Sadly I have not kept up with youngsters so much over the past few years. There are a couple of old (older ) players I would like to see in here, but as far as youngsters go, I will leave it to you guys in the know who are always pumping in names I have never heard of in the rumours thread.

[Mirallas]

Praet and Eriksen will never come to Everton before they're like 30y old at least. EFC can't afford them, nor do they need a player on that position. You got Osman, Pienaar, Mirallas, Oviedo, Naismith and even Fellaini and Coleman competing on the attacking midfield.

 

EFC are much more likely imo to strengthen their defensive midfield. And maybe get another striker who'd be fully worthy of competing with Jella, perhaps on loan (*cough*Lukaku*cough*) .

[Bailey]

Praet and Eriksen will never come to Everton before they're like 30y old at least. EFC can't afford them, nor do they need a player on that position. You got Osman, Pienaar, Mirallas, Oviedo, Naismith and even Fellaini and Coleman competing on the attacking midfield.

 

EFC are much more likely imo to strengthen their defensive midfield. And maybe get another striker who'd be fully worthy of competing with Jella, perhaps on loan (*cough*Lukaku*cough*) .

 

What we need is definitely an attacking midfielder with the class to pick a pass. Mirallas is probably the only one who can do that consistently at the moment and a top attacking midfielder would take us to the next level IMO.

[Lowensda]

I've cut down on the foreign footy so my list won't be the most comprehensive.

First pick, pipping Barkley, Oscar, and Gotze, is Isco - Attacking Mid. Absolutely class, one reason why Spain aren't worried about their ageing stars.

Xhaka - Central mid. Only one with some bite to him I can think of (Ideally to build a great team you need a solid DM and CB, but not many are mature so young). Swap with Rodwell if he develops.

Nastasic - has done well for City, done better than most under 21's I can think of.

Alaba - Left Back. All great teams are built on the foundation of a great left back

Wellington - Striker. Twitter buzz about the next big thing from Brazil.

 

Tempted to put Green from the early words coming from the club.

 

Team with some slight rule breaking with 22 year olds Schurrle and Alan Dzagoev based on the Euros.

Curtois

Clyne* Duffy Nastasic Alaba

Holby Dzagoev Xhaka Schurrle

Isco

Wellington

 

*Some TT member rates him highly

 

Great picks in there Pete, Alaba will be the best LB in the world, cracking shout. I really rate Nastasic as well, had a bit of a mare yesterday vs. United, but as a baptism of fire, yuo can't blame him. Give him a few years and i think he'll be a top top defender.

 

In regards to Wellington, is that the Arsenal Wellington? Out on loan in Brazil? I'd forgotten about him already, I got a little excited when they signed him but he didn't feature at all over here, so I haven't heard a great deal about him recently. What's being said on the grapevine?

 

Ill put one guy forward now. Swedish guy, mentioned him before and posted a video.

 

Def mid - Simon Tibbling. The guy set the swedish top flight on fire last season and he was born in 1994. Expect him to become a lot better this year. (we have our seasons in spring-autumn). Him and Barkley next to each other might be a really good center midfield.

 

http://www.transferm...ler_192985.html

 

Thanks Pete, I'm going to add him to my watch list. If he's as good as you say, he'll be worth keeping an eye out for. Will you update me every now and then on any significant movements within the Swedish press?

 

Neymar - No explanation needed, one of the best players in the world already.

Jack Butland - Going to be a top keeper, no doubts about it.

Wilfried Zaha - The lad's got bags of potential, and we could use more attacking players tbh.

Jack Wilshire -Surprised no one's said him yet, he's only 20 but already (probably) Arsenal's best player.

Carl Jenkinson - Another young Englishman from Arsenal, and potentially the best English RB since Gary Neville.

 

All good youngsters, who would help meet the English quota. The only one I'm not particularly a fan of, is funnily enough, the non-English inclusion. Neymar is great...in Brazil. It's whether he'll be able to bring that to the European game....i'm not to sure. We'll see one day!

 

Some of the more obvious choices have already been named (Courtois, Götze, Isco, though Wilshere has been overlooked, he's only 20 as well) and I know you seem to follow the Dutch league at least a little bit, so you probably already know about Christian Eriksen (20, CAM), Adam Maher (19, CM) and Filip Djuricic (20, CAM). So I'll try to pick 5 players you might not have heard of, though I sometimes post about them in This Weekend's Footy thread:

 

Viktor Fischer, 18, winger/forward, Ajax: 3 goals and 3 assists in his first 7 league games for Ajax. Scored two goals in Ajax 0-3 trumping of Barcelona in the Next-Gen series last season.

 

Lucas Andersen, 18, winger/forward, Ajax: made his debut for Ajax this weekend against Groningen. Played for a little more than ten minutes and hit the post. Already played about 40 games for Aalborg in Denmark. Supposed to have great vision, technique and feel for the game.

 

Stefano Denswil, 19, centre back, Ajax: left-footed ball-playing centre back with a cracking free kick. Here he scores one against Internazionale in the finale of the Next-Gen tournament.

 

Tonny Trindade de Vilhena, 17, CAM, Feyenoord: Star of the Dutch U17 European Champions, scored in the finale against Germany. Has got it all.

 

Jean-Paul Boëtius, 18, winger, Feyenoord: made his debut in the Dutch "Classico" against Ajax. He was the star of the show and could do no wrong.

 

I know of Fischer, I really really like him. With all his playmaking credentials, he has a deadly eye for goal too (as you've pointed out). Fischer is a very 'direct' player, officialy a Left Mid/Winger, but is predominately right footed....likes to cut in alot. Has great control with both feet. Not the greatest crosser in the world but its not needed in his game. He has the makings of a proper decent attacking player, likes alot.

 

Vilhena can play CM as well can't he? Well to be fair, I think he can play just about anywhere in the middle. Saw Vilhena score against Alkmaar the other week as well, well taken goal it was too, his close control is awesome.

 

In the Belgian league, there's not a lot of very good young talent at the moment imo. There's one future superstar though: Dennis Praet. He's 18, an attacking midfielder and plays for Anderlecht. He used to play for Genk's academy but when he was 16 he was courted by Ajax, Barcelona, Lille, Arsenal, Real Madrid... and he signed for Genk's rival Anderlecht. He's earning €800.000 a year (which is the 11th highest wage in the league, according to a recent study) since his 16th birthday, Anderlecht were that desperate to get him. He played for Anderlecht's academy at first, he won the "Best Player Award" at the prestigious Aegon Future Cup in Amsterdam among others. He has broken into their first team this season and is now a regular starter for them. He's got 5 goals and 4 assists in 19 games (among those are Champions League games) so far. He oozes class.

 

Here's a clip of him mainly against other Academy sides, Brazilian Fluminense and Bayern Munich among others:

 

And here's some footage of him in Anderlecht's first team:

 

That was already uploaded on october 31th, so it's only from a couple of the games he's played, yet there's some brilliant stuff in the first 50 seconds or so.

 

Would love Praet, would be an amazing replacement for Pienaar. Steve what are you rthoughts on Massimo Bruno? I think he looks class.

 

------------------------

 

I've had to cheat a little to get my Five but have included honory mentions -

 

Forwards:

 

El Shaaraway - AC Milan (20). How has no-one mentioned this Mohawked monster of a player? I can't go into too much detail because my head would exploded with excitment. You know that Falcao lad? Well....Stephan will be better. I can assure you. How's he doing in his first real season at AC? 15 goals, 16 games....aha. Yep. Did I mention...he has a freaking Mohawk!?!? Talented...and suprsing grounded lad, been brought up in modest surroundings and is already one of my favourite players, in the world....and he has a mohawk. Amaze.

 

Nassim Ben Khalifa - Wolfsburg (20). Reminds me of Mirallas, build, techincal ability and in his Olympicos days, a goal getter. Has pace, vision and strength. The Swiss have a crop of really really good youth players coming through and for the next couple of years, they're my next tip. Belgium 3 years ago (just starting to show the world of their talents), the Swiss, with the likes of Xhaka, Xherdan Shaqiri, Ricardo Rodriguez, Pajtim Kasami, Sead Hajrovic, Benjamin Siegrist, Frederic Veseli, Oliver Buff, Haris Seferovic, Janick Kamber and Charyl Chappuis all young and getting experience (some in England), they'll be a good 'team' in a few years, mark my words.

 

Gerard Deulofeu - If Messi were to leave, this guy would step-in.

Chris Forrester - Already linked with Everton (scouting still) Scores like this...

Rogelio Mori - Goal machine at River Plate, still only 21.

Samuele Longo - The African sounding Italian.

 

 

Attacking Mids:

 

Adryan Tavares - Flamengo (19). Flair, technique, vision, dribbling, speed, passing, crossing...all top notch. Hey Neymar...this is a player who has it all and more. Adryan could be one of the best players in the world, he turned down United to concentrate on his game in Brazil....why wouldn't you like him. He's a footballer, not out for the big time, he'll get his day but he's learning and it'll only benefit him. Great attitude to boot, this kid will be HUGE.

 

Leon Goretzka - VFL Bochum (17). The Future of German football. Think of how instrumental Ballack was to the German national team, now meet his replacement. Incredibly talented, great feet, good vision, can spray a pass, can tackle....he has it all. And secondly, he's built like a brick-shit house...he'd have no problem fitting into this league. All the big boys are circling, Bayern, Madrid....and for good reason. Top top potential.

 

Ouasim Bouy - Juventus (19). The dutch footballing prodigy who didn't last too long in Holland, aiming to tear up Turin with his general all round brilliance. On loan at Brescia, where he's already looking a great buy for Juve. He can play CAM, CM, CDM, LM, RM....hell he could probably play in goal if you asked him. I look forward to seeing how this 'Bouy' (get it ) gets on. Potential to be a Midfield General.

 

Thiago Alcantara - Injury free, a potential superstar.

Rafinha - The Barca midfield maetro

Ananidze - Young playmaker who seems to have been around forever, still top top drawer.

Jean-Christophe Bahebeck - Striker/Winger, PSG's answer to Ronaldo.

Philippe Coutinho - Inter's Brazilian wonder.

Ola John - Benfica's scarily talented, brother of Collins John.

 

Central Mids:

 

Carlos Casemiro - Sao Paulo (20). The new Beast of Brazil. For a country that struggled for big, defensive brutes with a technique to boot, they're now churning them out and Casemiro, in my eyes, the best of the bunch. (I hate saying this) but he probably is the equivilant of Steven Gerrard in his prime. As a CDM he can tackle, spray passes long/short, read the game brilliantly, hold himself up against the biggest players in the Brazilian game, has brilliant awareness and positioning. This guy will be an unsung hero at a major club, but he'll be invaluable to them.

 

Gabriel Appelt Pires - Juventus (19). Juve, how about sharing those kids about. Stop hogging all the furture stars...a CDM with it all. Still learning the game (hence why he's out at Vercelli, but already dominating their first team). His idol is Pirlo. Pirlo will be proud of the comparison aha. But seriously, give him a few years and he'll be Turin's master in the middle.

 

Paul Pogba - Not worth breaking the bank for according to United. Breaking hearts in Turin.

Victor Waynama - Celtics incredibly talented CDM/CB

 

Defenders:

 

Alberto Masi - Juventus (20). Aha. Juve. Again. Allessandro Nesta finally has his young replacement. Just read this - http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2012/07/24/3259805/the-talk-of-italy-introducing-juventus-headline-grabbing

 

Kyriakos Papadopoulos - Schalke 04 (20) Made his professional debut at 13, not in the top flight, but still, 13!? United have chased him for years, Schalke got their man and are reaping the rewards. Mature and composed, great tackler, brilliant reader of the game, top top defender, with many many years to come at the top. Would be an absolute beast of a signing for Everton.

 

Nathaniel Clyne - Southampton (21)

 

David Alaba - Bayern (20) Everyone must know about Alaba by now, righty noted by Pete. Potential World beater. Absolutely incredible talent who'll undoubtable be linked to everyone, everywhere until the day he retires. and even when he does, a Saudi business man will buy him just to play keepy-ups in his trophy room.

 

Nastasic - City man making his mark in the PL.

Kurt Zouma - Beast from St. Etienne

Raphael Varane - Real Madrid 'Sweeper'

Karim Rekik - Another City Graduate with a huge cult following.

Nathan Chalobah - Chelsea's future captain.

 

Goalkeepers:

 

Stefanos Kampino - Panathanikos (18) I've mentioned his name many a time. He'd be a future legend at any club he goes to. Fantastic reflexes, incredible shot stopper, good reader of the game, commands his box, doesn't take any shit. Mature beyond his years, will only grow bigger, better and probably hairier (Greeks)...will end up at a big, big club (Everton ) and be the mainstay between the sticks for years and years.

 

Alessio Cragno - Brescia (18) A football game manager's dream. I don't have FM so don't know what he's like on there but my attention was swayed his way after a tip-off from a friend of mine, who works at the Sports Direct Arena ( its still funny). He's been tracked for years, a youth sensation, who wins every award going (bar golden boots) and has praising scout reports all over the shop. He'll need a few years of first team football before judging him but he has potential to be a fantastic GK....just still very very raw.

 

Nicola Leali - Next Buffon?

Marc-André ter Stegen - One of the best GK's in the world already.

Thibaut Courtois - Best young GK in Europe (ATM)

Ali Ahamanda - Toulouse Shot stopper.

Maksym Koval - Kiev's number one at 19? Pressure much?

[pete0]

My list is mostly well knowns, had exam style blank out. Good call on Praet, had burned my noggin out trying to remember his name.

@Ten Can't find the tweets. It was on the lines of Wellington being better suited for the Prem than Neymar.

[Lowensda]

My list is mostly well knowns, had exam style blank out. Good call on Praet, had burned my noggin out trying to remember his name.

@Ten Can't find the tweets. It was on the lines of Wellington being better suited for the Prem than Neymar.

 

Yeah, i'm not sure on Neymar. He's got the skills but he'll get murdered in the prem, I just don't think he could come over and adjust. That goes for the Bundesliga and France too. Spain he might be ok, Italy probably better (more time on the ball)...but the best league for him would be Brazil or possibly Holland, where the league is rife with technical youngsters.

[Fearthainn]

A few young, talented players in the Portuguese league right now. Porto have James Rodriguez, who you're probably aware of, and there's also Christian Atsu. He's a very skillful winger, made his debut for Ghana earlier this year.

 

Benfica also have a couple of very good prospects. Ola John and Rodrigo are the most exciting ones. Rodrigo actually had a spell at Bolton on loan if memory serves me correctly. Wouldn't surprise me to see him called up by Spain over the next couple of years. He's been scoring plenty of goals for their U21s.

 

Sporting are going through a pretty bad patch at the moment, however their academy is still as strong as ever. This season saw the introduction of B teams in the Portuguese league, and Sporting B were running away with the second tier at one point (they're in second place now). Besides Eric Dier, obviously, other very promising players include Bruma, Esgaio and Diego Rubio. Remember the names people.

[Lowensda]

Atsu is at Porto, looks the real deal. Spurs were looking at him, after an AVB scouting session into his old club. Rodriguez is amazing, his new buy out clause is redicuolus, but by the sounds of things, he wants to stay at Porto. Good lad

 

There are sooooo many talented young attacking midfielders now a days. It'd be impossible to list them all. I know we have Ross, but we need to invest in our own Mata Get one of the talented youngsters from Brazil or just invest in Takefusa Kubo. Steal him.

Edited December 10, 2012 by tenaciousj

[Bailey]

Ten, had you heard of the likes of Vellios, Gueye and Forrester etc before we signed them? Would be interested to know what you thought before we brought them in and whether they showing what you thought they would?

[Steve_E]

Would love Praet, would be an amazing replacement for Pienaar. Steve what are you rthoughts on Massimo Bruno? I think he looks class.

 

He's been very good. He managed to held his own in the Champions League as well. I think he'll be a Belgian international in a year or two. Don't think he's as big a talent as Praet though. I'd have him in the Belgium squad next time we have a friendly.

Edited December 10, 2012 by Steve_E

[Lowensda]

Ten, had you heard of the likes of Vellios, Gueye and Forrester etc before we signed them? Would be interested to know what you thought before we brought them in and whether they showing what you thought they would?

 

Gueye is probably the only one i'd heard of prior to Everton being remotely linked with the player. Maggy used to be used as a striker for Strasbourg, not entirely prolific but he had a few assists to his name, was effective, nothing 'special'. He was unique in the sense he took set-pieces and had a cracking left-peg. Originally hailed as the potential new 'Saha' (as you do), but wasn't seen as an exceptional talent.

 

George Green was the only other one i'd heard of recently, prior to us signing him and that's a friend of mine at WHL, who said he played in a youth game and just (as he put it) "killed it". Then we were in there for him?

 

Problem is, anyone who has an interest in the young lads coming through, only really get to hear about the 'exceptional' talents. You don't hear too much about the 'effective' players, the young lads that 'do a good job'. You can look through list after list of 'best' youth players in Europe/Asia/World and they'll be of the same candidates...because they look good. They wouldn't necessarily fit our system, or be the type of player we need, the majority of 'exceptional' talent are attacking mids. You don't get to hear about many 'exceptional' CB's or CDM's...although I wish you did

[Bailey]

Gueye is probably the only one i'd heard of prior to Everton being remotely linked with the player. Maggy used to be used as a striker for Strasbourg, not entirely prolific but he had a few assists to his name, was effective, nothing 'special'. He was unique in the sense he took set-pieces and had a cracking left-peg. Originally hailed as the potential new 'Saha' (as you do), but wasn't seen as an exceptional talent.

 

George Green was the only other one i'd heard of recently, prior to us signing him and that's a friend of mine at WHL, who said he played in a youth game and just (as he put it) "killed it". Then we were in there for him?

 

Problem is, anyone who has an interest in the young lads coming through, only really get to hear about the 'exceptional' talents. You don't hear too much about the 'effective' players, the young lads that 'do a good job'. You can look through list after list of 'best' youth players in Europe/Asia/World and they'll be of the same candidates...because they look good. They wouldn't necessarily fit our system, or be the type of player we need, the majority of 'exceptional' talent are attacking mids. You don't get to hear about many 'exceptional' CB's or CDM's...although I wish you did

 

Fair enough, just wondering if you had crossed any of their paths previously so to speak. Although it seems you summed up Gueye pretty well! lol

[Lowensda]

Maggy's lost a fair bit of pace as well Bailey, he used to run behind defenders but now, he has very little? I'm guessing its partly to do with his cruciate/knee injury he sustained shortly after joining?

[Peter H]

John Guidetti is my second choice. Again a swede, born 1992.

[Bailey]

Maggy's lost a fair bit of pace as well Bailey, he used to run behind defenders but now, he has very little? I'm guessing its partly to do with his cruciate/knee injury he sustained shortly after joining?

 

Yeh probably. I do think he has a bit about him, but Im pretty convinced he isnt a left winger. When he played on the right he could cut inside or go down the outside but on the left, he doesnt seem as confident about cutting in on his weaker foot.

 

If I remember rightly I think he said in an interview once that his main position was behind the striker, and I think that would probably be a good position for him. He is pretty good in the air as well. I think in real life he is probably bigger than he looks on TV! lol

[Peter H]

PSG's Marco Verratti is my third choice, also born 1992

[Peter H]

My fourth choice after a month of consideration is Alen Halilovic. Currently at Dinamo Zagreb. 16 years old and has already played in CL.

Edited January 23, 2013 by Peter H

[Lowensda]

Ahaha was checking on whether if mentioned Koval in my list and forgot entirely, that I'd given a mention to Deulofeu!!

 

Never considered him as a viable option for Everton!! Awesome.