Kant

He would be a great buy as he is so young, but I don't really think that he would be ready now for the challenge here. If Besic does not step up, that position is a gap for the next seasons. Atletico Madrid was very much into Tielemans for €20m some time ago -which really speaks well about the lad, Simeone is a great talent evaluator-. €20mis not that much considering age and potential to become dominant in the next years. Unfortunately I don't see him coming to Everton, although Martinez has shown that he likes youth and he is willing to invest big on young talents.

The idea is that the DMC provide the platform for the rest of the team to attack. They are the first line of defence, but also they are supposed to be good distributors, something that Makelele was never able to do, and tactically smart. I want to believe that McCarthy will be the ultimate DMC at some point, when he decides to start grabbing games by the neck and starts passing forward and make good timed runs. The other DMC should not be a DMC, but a MC with the physical tools to run around. In other words, in 2 years I fully expect McCarthy to do the Barry role, and a more offensive polished player to do the 'box to box' midfielder.

I would not let Coleman go for £20m. For £30m maybe, but it would be important to show strength (if Everton lets go Coleman for £30m, how much can they ask for Barkley, Stones?) and have a replacement lined up. Full backs are very important in RM's tactics as they are the ones providing real width and surprise arrivals. True, last season he was not at his best, but who was? If the aim is to do something important, Coleman and Baines are an integral part of it. Non-related: Montoya to Inter is almost done, and he's not that good (and a prick that probably would not even be bothered to learn English ever).

Sometimes we tend to forget that young Kone used to be great, a bright player when in PSV, and Sevilla signed him as the next wonderkid for €12m in 2007. He could perfectly have been the next big young african striker, if only Sevilla had not hired also Luis Fabiano, who had a cracking season and left Kone without any meaningful minutes. Then, big injury happened and he was never the same. Sevilla loaned him out to Hannover and Levante, and in Levante -and with a tactic of 10 defenders and Kone up front to counterattack- he flourished. Then he went to Wigan for peanuts and you know the story.

Those lads almost got 4th two seasons ago, if only Barry was 24... Howard had a great season too. Hard to replicate success, but at least with Cleverley and Besic there's a bit of depth at CM. A winger (another) must be signed too to play McGeady's minutes. A CB and a keeper too and I'd be happy.

He lacks, as the americans would say, football IQ. Mainly basic decision making: when to pass and when to dribble. (For him it is always time to dribble!) Fantastic player, but a winger.

I will only say that the gap that English people perceive between the Premier League and other leagues is amazingly not true. i.e.: Anderlecht 3 - 3 Arsenal. Two years ago Olympiakos gave Man Utd a run for its money in 1/4 CL. In the Europa League PL teams keep failing year after year against "lower level opposition", feel free to review the performance of the PL teams starting by the 5-2 overall result of Everton, continuing with Liverpool against Besiktas. Seriously? When are you going to realise that a) the gap is not that big and that it can be also a matter of style of football played. The Premier League is a very particular competition in the sense of style as well, some great players fail here and go on to become big stars elsewhere, the same as strikers fail in the Italian league and go somewhere else and start scoring for fun.

One more decent striker, one good CB and -most importantly- a confident keeper on goal and I would get excited. Deulofeu and Naismith at the level shown the first season of Martinez are key to achieve the goals. I can see that the team is a few steps away from being very good, but there are others also very close (Tottenham, Liverpool). Liverpool two seasons ago finished 2nd, then lost one vital player and ended up 6th, which shows how delicate is the balance. Baines - Jags - Stones - Coleman is a very strong defensive line IF Jags retains the level we know he is capable of, not last years form. McCarthy - Barkley - TBD. McCarthy is a stud who usually plays well. Barkley is all irregularity at the moment, his first season with Martinez he was bright, powerful and incisive. Last season, not so much. The third midfielder probably depends of the game, balance, form and the legs of Barry. But I'm quite happy Cleverley is in the club, another pair of fresh legs, pass and move style player can never hurt the squad. Lukaku - Deulofeu - TBD. This is the most worrying part. Lukaku so far is inconsistent and requires a more direct approach, Deulofeu is still quite raw and inconsistent, albeit magical in his day, and we do not have a third great player to be a complement of the others. Mirallas is the best of the bunch, but we all know how things went last year. McGeady drives me mad, and Pienaar looks like a shadow of the players he used to be, which is a shame considering that Baines - Pienaar was the most fruitful pair on the left two seasons ago and a key to the excellent fifth position. Naismith two seasons ago became a very valuable contributor but playing as false 9 or second striker due to his excellent movement, smart passing and work rate. Let's see if he can be back to his best. The bench guys: some of them can be trusted (in Joel I trust after the three clean sheets, I'm glad Alcaraz and Distin are gone and I want to see Galloway, Besic, Cleverley in action, Ossie can do good 20 mins sometimes...) and some others are deadwood (I'm looking at the oft-injured Gibson and Koné, sorry). There is still a lot of work to do IMO to get me excited about this squad, but the two first players in are a good sign. Deulofeu is raw, mercurial talent that can give a lot, and Cleverley is a player that can contribute and fill in the gaps when teams close down. Let's see. So far I see a 7th position in the cards, 6th if Firmino is a bust and Sterling leaves.

I wonder about the % of goals scored for the team. How did you get this number as bad or good? I mean, Tottenham Hotspur this season -total goals 57, per transfermarkt.com : Harry Kane -allegedly wonderkid valued £30+-: 21 goals / 34 games (36,8% of goals of the team). Christian Eriksen: 10 goals in 38 (17.5%). Nacer Chadli: 11 in 36 (19.3%). Soldado & Adebayor combined: 3 (5,3%). Lamela 2, Townsend 2, Danny Rose 3, Dier 2... No one is saying that Kane had a bad season, just the opposite...the only criticism that everyone can see is to wait if he can keep his excellent level. For the record, Lukaku this year scored 10 in 36, top scorer in the League with 20.4%. Although I see it low, I also saw the poor football offered and the general poor level of the team. I'd be very happy if he can chip 15-18 PL goals next year, adding some assists.

Some clubs have a better reputation and still may feel that it is a gentlemen's agreement. Do not forget the fact that if Deulofeu were to become a star, and Manchester United/City makes an offer of £80m, while Barcelona offers €14m, it will go down to the player's choice at the end. And most likely he'll want to go back home.

I see RM playing Barry - McCarthy - Barkley (AMC) and Cleverley from the left in the Ossie role, with Deulofeu in the other side. Lots of free movement in the left side with Baines going forward and a more traditional right side wing with Coleman - Deulofeu.

It's not like we don't know him already...If he was able to produce anything consistently (other than frustration) he would not be coming here. Besides, he's great in youtube and highlight videos but he doesn't track back and even in the videos you can see he's a black hole with a decision making problem.

To be fair, Bojan was sold when he was at his make-or-break stage to AS Roma for €12m, with a mandatory buy back clause of €13m. Then, although Bojan was a failure in Italy -with Roma and Milan- FC Barcelona had to execute the buy back clause, only to give away the player after to Ajax and then to Stoke for €1.8m. If they have learnt their lesson, they would not execute the buy back clause unless they want the kid to play for the first team. By the way, any official confirmation? I will not believe this until I see Everton and Barcelona official announcements.

Messi was way better at his age. Neymar has been tracked, scouted and touted as the next Pele since he was 18. Suarez had another path, but then again, Suarez is much more of a number 9 than Deulofeu will ever be. I also want him to become the next Cristiano Ronaldo, but that would be to expect too much from the lad IMO. Let's see...

Don't forget that he has to be a world beater to compete with Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. A very good forward does not break that line... and, to be honest, he looks like he can become very good but that is another different level that he'll never grasp.

He's on his way down, has always been very fragile and, although powerful, he's far from clinical in front of goal. If Lukaku leaves -which is a massive if, because I think RM will never sell below £40m- then I'd want to see young talent. It's hard to find a young, promising striker...

Different positions, different valuations. Also Lukaku had proven quite a lot before signing -West Brom, loan here-, Deulofeu so far has only failed consistently to deliver and lives up to his "potential". I don't really want to make another Lukaku thread, but other unproven strikers have been transferred for ridiculous amounts of money compared to their performances -Ideye Brown, Connor Wickman, Morata...-. A striker can be much more decisive and deadly than a winger, therefore a big valuation based on potential.

It would be a good transfer for everyone if Deulofeu has stated that he would only go to Everton. For once I'm happy the club has a "soft spoken, modern"* manager as RM. Hopefully it is true but I only found the report in Sport.es -FC Barcelona's unofficial newspaper -. The details as stated by Alguna Vez Tonelada. I think this is an extremely cheap transfer, as I can't see Barcelona using the buy back clause to buy him for the bench, and Deulofeu is too much of an ego to go back to warm the bench. Furthermore, there are better players to do that (the excellent Pedro, or some youngsters). We just need to remember that not so long ago Arouna Kone was bought for £6m!!! I will hold my excitement until the official announcement by the clubs is published, though... *= a manager that can deal with big undeserved egos without sending the player to the Reserves.

Anywhere he's been -barring FC Köln- he's done nothing better than average. Plus he'd be vastly overpaid for what this club should afford, so no thanks for me. Although it would be nice to have another goal scoring option in the starting XI.

The squad can actually use many players, and a fast skilful winger is one of them. The question is: do I prefer Player A, who plays like a 6/10 every game in my team or Player B who gives me 4/10, 6/10, 9/10, 7/10, 5/10 now? With a chance that an average score of 5.5 can become an 8 in a few years. I know that with Player A I will live and die in mid-table. Player B can give me different possibilities, excitement and a potential CL qualification if he fulfils his potential. I know I prefer Player B. Some fans also comment on his goal record. Here he played 29 games -4 goals-, I'd say 60-40 starter-sub. In Sevilla he played 17 league games and 5 Europa League games, most of them as a sub. It's not like 29 games 4 goals is a very poor record for a 19 year old kid, he also came on as a sub in many of them. The day when (if) he puts it together he will be amazing to watch. I'm all in for his signature, if only to avoid having to watch McGeady play for Everton again!

I have never seen him defend or do something remarkable deep in midfield. If I'm not mistaken, he's been on record saying that he plays better behind the striker. Besides, he has no tactical acumen (yet) of when to play it simple, when to play long, when to play short and when to dribble, which makes him a liability deep in midfield. To be honest, I see him better a-la-Gerrard (a few years ago), playing with a DM as Mascherano and a CM as Xabi Alonso and him doing a bit of free roaming, going wherever his talent tells him to, scoring goals with his great strike and powerful runs.

The problem is that the agent is also telling him "Everton does not trust you, Martinez did not play you when Baines was injured, you are ready now, Swansea is offering you a chance, they have really scouted you...". When the reality is that Baines is 30+, each time more injury prone, Oviedo has had a serious injury and Garbutt can earn the spot here if he sticks around the way Stones did. Martinez has shown that he's a bit conservative but once the player proves his worth he sticks with him. Consistency is underrated in the careers of footballers. The more time they stay in a team, the more likely is that they focus on improving their skills and shine. How many times we have heard that a normal player has been in a team since long time and one year they had a breakout season? I think that kind of season does not happen overnight just because, it happens due to long term trust in the club, organic development and increased responsibility.

I don't really like it. Not because I do not like the player -tbh I don't have an opinion-, but because the position of AMC is Barkley's best. If last season he was not getting played in that position without this player, will he be again played in the left next season? Cleverley, Gibson, McCarthy, Besic, Barry, Barkley, Osman and now this chap are far too many for the DM/CM/AMC, unless one of them plays regularly on the wing and/or someone is leaving. Even considering Osman as a LMF, still too many. I assume the starters are McCarthy, Barry and Barkley in top form (not my preference, but what I think RM would do). Would he drop Barkley instead of give him more responsibility?

Is it that profitable to go to Singapore / Japan / Asia for a couple of games when the team is starting the season? I totally understand that the fans over there want to see the team too and clubs get some revenue but between the jet lag and the different climate I have a hard time believing that it's the best way to ensure full fitness to start the season. I'm not a fitness expert but I'd love to know the amount of fatigue accumulated for all those trips/jet-lag/deficient training sessions and if the extra revenue compensates it instead of staying nearby and focusing purely on fitness and tactics, grabbing 15/15 points and getting players very confident for the rest of the season.

I have never seen the lad play, but Barcelona B got relegated from the Segunda Division and he was starting the games for that side, so...I wouldn't really want him at this stage. Other Barcelona B players such as Deulofeu or Luis Alberto (Liverpool) took that team in the past to the top of the division, and they showed consistently they were at a different level. Jese Rodriguez looks like a bad copy of himself after his injury (ACL) last year.