thoward18

I don't see why Everton and Chelsea couldn't arrange an agreement, either one officially written into the transfer or a gentleman's agreement b/w Roberto and Jose, if that was something Chelsea really cared about. I seriously doubt that's the reason the transfer hasn't gone through.

I was never concerned, but it's nice to have a transfer officially completed. One less thing for Martinez and Everton to spend time dealing with.

Here's Carlo Ancelotti literally hours ago saying that Real Madrid "will not look for another striker because we do not need it." http://www.marca.com/2014/07/27/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1406422799.html

It's a delicate issue in terms of staying in MLS vs. going abroad. On one hand, you want your talent to go abroad because it validates your league as a good developer of talent and those guys playing abroad certainly makes a big statement for U.S. Soccer. On the other hand, those players going abroad means that they're not playing domestically. And if all of our good players go abroad then MLS is going to be watered down. And if the quality of the teams decline then U.S. soccer as a whole is going to decline. So where is the line in the sand? I'm not too sure. It would be great to see Zusi and/or Besler go to Europe so Sporting KC could get a nice transfer fee and say, "look at how well we're developing talent and look at how American players can compete with the best." On the other hand, by keeping them Sporting KC and MLS can say, "look at two guys who just started at the World Cup and had all sorts of interest from reputable, wealthy European teams, and yet they felt it was in their best interest to play in MLS." How do you send enough talented Americans to Europe so they can improve individually and promote U.S. Soccer internationally while still improving the standard of MLS and not falling into the trap of becoming purely a feeder league? That's the challenge we face.

Oh look at that, all the whining about lack of movement was simply impatience rather than justified pessimism and concern. Huh.

Don't think people in Europe realize how big of a problem this is here in the US. In England, if you're 14 years old and good at soccer you get picked up by a professional team and learn from pros. Here, your club team is run by someone's dad and you play for your school team coached by the history teacher. This is something that is started to change. Red Bull New York, for instances, were one of the first teams to implement an academy for U18, U16, etc. Just recently, I believe, they've added U14 and U13. Obviously, the benefits of improved programs for 15 and 16 year olds is not going to be seen for 5-7 years., and even then it's still not perfect. Another thing RBNY want to do is build a physical academy. Players would live there and get schooling there. This is something that I think is common in Europe (correct me if I'm wrong, guys) but is unheard of in the U.S. And then there's the whole problem of the NCAA and its eligibility rules, which is a whole different issue for Klinsmann and US Soccer to tackle. I don't think the US are lacking motivation to become a soccer powerhouse. There are simply many major inherent problems with how our society is structured that put us at a disadvantage compared to other nations. US Soccer is still trying to figure out how to go about fixing that, but I think you're already starting to see massive improvement.

This is all well and fine, but it still doesn't take away from the point that Jagielka is bound to miss 8-10 games. So maybe he's not particularly more injury prone than many other CBs, but he still is prone in the sense that he's inevitably going to miss some games. Add to that, let's say, 6-8 starts that Distin might miss (and that could be conservative). Then let's say Coleman fatigue/injury will force Stones into 2-3 starts at RB. I think we're looking at about 17-22 starts for Stones in the EPL, plus League and FA Cups as well as Euro and he's bound to get 25-29 starts plus a handful of appearances off the bench and maybe a few call-ups to the U21s or even the national team. For me, that's a perfectly acceptable workload for a 20-year-old defender.

Sounds like Andy Carroll to me.

I wasn't "writing in bold or capitals." I was highlighting a portion of a previous post that was conveniently ignored by Captain Negativity. Anyway, Martinez has confirmed the interest signing Henen. I think this is unofficially completed.

"It doesn't mean the player will always work out, but he has to have talent and potential if Everton, Arsenal, and Manchester United are all checking in on him."

Feel free to show me a single team in the world with a 100% success rate in purchasing teenagers.

Well, sure. If 18-year-old's were guaranteed products then they wouldn't be going for a few million pounds. It doesn't mean the player will always work out, but he has to have talent and potential if Everton, Arsenal, and Manchester United are all checking in on him.

Another American! Welcome! As I have said before, I think this forum is generally very welcoming to people new to Everton. Never feel afraid to ask questions. Everton fans, more than most supporters, are incredibly proud of their history. Think of New York Yankee fans but without the arrogance or superiority complex. I'll leave others to go on about the history, but here's a famous quote from Alan Ball, who was a midfielder for Everton in the 60s. "Once Everton has touched you nothing will be the same."

If it makes you feel better, apparently Arsenal and Man U were also after him. If he WASN'T any good, then certainly this would not be the case.

This logic makes no sense. So if Arsenal had fucked up the final three games of the season then it would mean Everton or Martinez did a better job? How does that make sense? How does evaluating Everton on things largely out of Everton's control make sense? In any other season, this team would be in the CL. They got unlucky. Shit happens. Like I said, this doesn't mean we should be SATISFIED with where we are, but the implication that this group is no different from what's been thrown in front of us the past 10 years is ridiculous.

And how is that so? Last season Everton earned 72 points. They hadn't surpassed since 1988. Last season Everton had 21 wins. They previously hadn't reached 20 wins since 1987, when it was a 42-game season. Maybe PRIOR to Martinez there was stagnation, but I don't see what relevance that has now. How anyone could look at what happened last season and determine that it's status quo is mind boggling.

When did I say you have no right to voice an opinion? What I said was that your opinions, which seem to almost exclusively be cynical and negative, are off-putting. Now, you or anyone else are perfectly free to call Roberto Martinez the next Hitler and tell Distin you hope he gets hit by a train. Nobody is trying to stop you. All I'm saying is that Everton had it's best season in well over a decade and currently own the best young CAM and CB in English Football as well as the fastest rising managers in the world, and if, in that kind of situation, 95% of one's thoughts tilt towards the negative side then it says less about the state of Everton and more about someone's miserable attitude towards anything and everything. Nobody is "satisfied" with a 5th place finish. But some of us realize that Everton were never going to jump from 7th-8th place finishes directly into the Champions' League Final. Progress is a good thing, even if it isn't the goal itself.

I don't think it's going to matter now that we have a condensed schedule with Europe in the mix. I imagine that Jagielka and Distin will officially be "starters" but, especially with Distin being old and Jagielka being an injury risk, Martinez is going to be rotating often, I would think.

And my opinion is that the amount of cynicism and negativity from certain people is offputting. We have arguably the fastest rising manager in the world right coming off one of the best season in Everton's history and there are people acting like we're doomed forever just because said manager hasn't thrown cash around at a random player just to say we brought in new players. I swear that there are people on this forum who would insist on finding a reason for bitching and moaning if he managed to snag Messi on a free.

Treading water? We set like 500 different team records last season and were a cunt hair away from CL football. You know who has a right to complain? Newcastle. THAT is what "treading water" looks like.

It's pretty clear to me that nobody has any clue what the fuck is going on so until someone who actually matters says something (Martinez, Mourinho, an actual journalist, etc.) I'm just going to ignore it all.

Agreed. You'd think Chelsea would go with a more concrete, "our intentions are to keep him and have him compete for a spot in the XI," or something to that effect. A weak, "well right now the plan is to have him come to training..." doesn't scream of a team looking to keep Lukaku.

Really skeptical of it because of Daily Mail as well, but for what its worth the guy specifically reporting this one is supposedly very tuned in to Everton stuff, and Sky Italia is apparently reporting that Juventus have dropped out because Everton and Chelsea have agreed to terms.

I don't understand this logic. If you're consciously aware that Everton takings its time to evaluate all options, then why would you whine about players not coming in immediately? Don't you want what's best for the team? Do you think everyone else here preaching patience isn't eager to see who the new players will be? Hell, I'm sure Roberto Martinez is itching to make some moves and would love to have 5 new guys in for training tomorrow morning. It's not that we don't want knew signings. It's that our understanding of how the business works trumps our need to act like a bunch of fucking five-year-olds who demand instant gratification and a new shiny toy to play with.

I stopped reading after "Daily Mail."