thoward18

Don't know why that would be. After Michael Bradley and Tim Howard, he's the US's best player in their own end of the field. Keep in mind that he's been playing out of position at Stoke. The US has a SHITLOAD of question marks on their roster, but Cameron is the one reliable constant.

Doubt it. Two of Geoff Cameron (Stoke,) Omar Gonzalez (MLS) and Matt Besler (MLS) will get the job. If Brooks plays this tournament, it's because the US got hit with an injury or two or because they're already eliminated two games in and Klinsmann wants to get him the experience. He's a strong, strong favorite for a starting role in 2018, however. Brooks is raw but you can't teach his size and individual assets. He'd be a good buy short-term for cups and Europe and as EPL depth and could push for a starting role in the near future.

Some of you guys take the bait way too easily. Every transfer window teams get linked with 100 players and only 8-12 end up being seriously discussed. And of those 8-12 only 2-5 actually get signed. Maybe Everton are interested in this guy; I don't know. Or maybe it's just an agent leaking things for the sake of getting his player's name out there and generating interest. Or maybe it's The Sun (the original source of this rumor) throwing shit at the wall, like they always do. An unconfirmed rumor from a sketchy "news" source is not enough to make me believe that Martinez has lowered his ambitions. Sorry.

Four goals in seven caps. Yeah, he's total shit.

I can see that we're back to comparing a 20-year-old Lukaku to guys five+ years older. Not that the comparison to Anichebe is logical even when disregarding age.

Let's not be ridiculous here. Roberto and Hibbert have seen what Coleman and Stones have provided and I doubt either is delusional enough to believe that Hibbert's going to really factor into the first-team. If Hibbert wants to get legitimate playing time, then he's going to have to play at a much lower level and for heavily reduced salary, anyway. He's exactly the kind of guy you want around your youngsters and the training grounds. I don't have an issue with paying him a bit more than a normal coach to stay fit and be available for reserve matches, Capital One Cup, and Europe. I trust that Martinez isn't going to let wages spent on Hibbert be the difference between funding a competitive squad and dropping to 9th, or whatever.

My first thought was, "holy shit, how the hell did Distin NEVER get a cap? Like, not even one friendly." Then I remembered what a directionless disaster the French National Team has been for a while now.

I'll never forget you accidentally shanking a bicycle kick directly into the path of Jelavic. Bye bye.

I'd doubt that the plan would be for him to do a "full" season. I don't think Gibson's season being derailed was something they expected and it kind of forced Martinez' hand. Next year I'd assume that Martinez will be adding some talent to the central mid position, maybe Gibson is still here and capable of playing some minutes, and maybe even a Lundstrom can get some chances as well.

At 20 years old Giroud was the 3rd Division of France. Bony was playing in the Czech Republic for Sparta PragueS, having only just recently being called up from the B team. Suarez was just starting his first year with Ajax. First of all, unless you were hired scout somewhere I'm seriously doubting you got to see much of them and how their "ball control" was at that age. Secondly, if their ball control was so phenomenal to the point that they were superior products than a guy who just scored 14 goals in 28 games at the EPL level and who already has 27 Caps then what the hell were they doing playing at such shit clubs (Suarez sort of being the exception)?

Fellaini was 25. Saha was 31. Bony is 25. Giroud is 28. Suarez is 27. Lukaku is 20 years old. Do you see the difference?

I don't really understand the lukewarm sentiment towards Lukaku. He's the second-highest scorer this club has had in the last 18 years despite the fact that he's only played 28 league games for Everton this season. And he's only 20 years old. As he exists now he's as good of a striker as Everton have had in a long time, and I don't see why he's not going to significantly improve as he gets older. Who are superior strikers both for now and the future, that Everton have a realistic shot at?

I really hope people keep in perspective that Barkley is the exception to the rule. Deulofeu was the best player in the U20 World Cup last year, Barcelona's best homegrown talent since Messi, and even still he's only a rotation player at Everton right now. Ledson's a tremendous talent but he's only 16. Especially if we're improving our ambitions in terms CL and such, it could be another 3-5 years before he's really a factor. Next year I could see him getting into a few cup games but I hope Everton loan him out to a great League One side or a solid Championship side.

Doing some rough math based on the prize money numbers from this year's Europa Competition; Let's suppose Everton finish 2-3-1 and 2nd overall in their group. That's 2.4M Euros right there. Going 3-2-1 and winning the group would be 2.7M Euros. I'm sure we could do even better than that - Tottenham went 6-0-0 - but even by conservative estimates that's decent money before we even get into winning Knockout Phases. And without addressing ticket sales, TV deals, etc. I understand it's a far cry from Champions' League money but that's still a solid sum which could be invested in all sorts of ways.

Ryan Ledson, a (very good) 16 year old, made the bench over Vellios. He's done.

I'll be surprised if he so much as makes it into the bench. A team fighting off relegation in the Championship just sent him back because they found him "useless." I'll be stunned if he's not shipped back Greece or playing at some other considerably lower level this summer. Vellios is not an EPL-caliber player.

Who says we won't bring in 5 new players? Obviously not 5 Messi's, but I think Martinez' intention has to been to bring in players this summer regardless of whether Everton finished 1st or 10th. It's no CL, but Europa does have its own financial rewards which will help offset costs.

Depending on what happens with Pienaar I could see some value in Snodgrass. I have no idea how Leroy Fer has played this season but we were big on him last year and could certainly use some central midfield depth.

So just to summarize your point: Watching Lacina Traore for 16 minutes in Goodison gives you a far better perspective of what he brings to the table than anyone who could have watched from home. However, Roberto Martinez and the entire coaching & scouting staff, who have tapped into their resources and scouted him for years, have worked with him on the training ground, have spoken with him and his past managers, have spoken with Kone, who has played internationally with him... you're still able to evaluate Traore enough to undermine their opinion that he's a worthwhile addition purely because you watched him for 16 minutes at Goodison. I'm not sure if you're ignorant or just arrogant.

Got it. This makes sense. For instance, Ricky van Wolfswinkel was fantastic for Norwich in his debut against Everton, scoring a late goal to rescue points. That first impression was a great indicator of what he would bring further to Norwich, as he has since gone 23 games with a whole 7 shots on target. Wait...

So 16 minutes isn't convincing, but 60 is? Did my Naismith example go out the window? He gave, what, 20 matches before he got it together? This is a guy who has 10 goals in 28 European matches - including against AZ, Liverpool, and Roma - and 4 goals in 7 national team appearances. If he's good enough to do that, then how the fuck could he possibly be "out of his depth" in an FA Cup match against Swansea?

What the fuck does this even mean? Steven Naismith provided an entire season's worth of evidence that he wasn't good enough for Everton, and yet here he is bagging goals. How the fuck can you, therefore, decipher from a whole 16 minutes of play or whatever the hell it was whether Traore makes sense for this group or not? Presumably Martinez' most highly trusted wingmen were watching Traore every minute and doing their homework on him prior to his acquisition. But nope, Patto can just look at one small sample size and undermine all their reports. It takes some significant arrogance to come to that kind of conclusion.

Can anyone provide examples of defenders who pushed into starting XI on a consistent basis as a teenager for a non-relegation team? Making this kind of impact at 19 is rare to begin with, and most of the time it's a striker or winger.

Can someone explain the purpose? Obviously good relations are good no matter what and I see the obvious impact for Dundee... them being able to get some of our youth guys on loan once in a while... but what's in it for us? Would they really sell a guy cheaper just because we had a handshake agreement with them? Would they even realistically have any players we would want?