Haiku

Finally. I hope Kenwright will follow. We need people with know-how running the club. I welcome Benitez taking charge for everything football related. Ever since we got DOF, we went downhill.

I feel like If we lose either of DCL or Richarlison we are getting relegated. These two and Douc are key figures we need to build around, not lose them.

That would be the goal of the season... for him... I mean, he scores once in a season.

54 minutes ago, MikeO said:

But this is talking about a sale rather than a loan, I don't actually know if it's possible for a club to contribute to the wages of another club's player. Seems unlikely; I agree in principle though.

It is possible for a player to take a wage cut at his new club and the selling club may agree to cover the difference for the reminder of his old contract.

He's not good enough, but so are all of our central midfielders bar Allan and Doucoure. If we bring him back I can see him playing a role. 

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According to them, Benitez wants Sanchez but is only willing to offer a swap deal to get him, with Cenk Tosun the man who would be going the other way.

He's not quite a midfielder who can do defensive work. Much like James. Hence why he's not favored by Mourinho.

He was a star player at Lyon and was a shock that he joined Betis. I've lost his tracks ever since.

4 hours ago, Btay said:

Koeman would have pushed the schneiderland deal though. I remember when we signed him I was stoked we didn’t get Axel Witsel in the summer. Mental, absolutely mental.

Schneiderlin wasn't bad when we signed him. He was proper midfielder at Southampton and was very competent at United. Sigurdsson was a star player at Swansea. Klaassen was a leader at Ajax. Sure, none of them justify the price we paid, but still they looked like promising signings. Is it our luck, but most of our signings bar two or three since Moshiri came on board never worked out with us? It feels like a curse, really.

The lad has some significant fitness issues. The facts are out there for everyone to see. He is simply not up to the standards fitness wise. 

7 minutes ago, Cornish Steve said:

... because he is definitely world-class.

He's not. His fitness and commitment is nowhere near acceptable, hence why he missed out Copa America and now signed for Qatari club. This is not a great example of world class player, who is supposed to be on top of his game at the age of 30.

Good

Don't judge him by the goals in Portuguese league. It's a three horse race with two more competing for the places behind them. The rest you can put in English 4th tier and It will be considerable challenge for them to come on top.

1 minute ago, Haiku said:

I'm not surprised, because he looks like this type of player - Unprofessional. There's a reason Colombian NT didn't called him for the Copa. There's a reason he didn't make it in bigger clubs. There's a reason his fitness is shit. There's a reason he doesn't know who Everton are playing against, and that's not because he's being excluded from training, but because of his lack of interest in the job he's being hired.

Just now, tonyh said:

He said it, you can watch it here: https://colombia.as.com/colombia/2021/08/20/futbol/1629426691_372926.html (after about 45 seconds)

It's hardly a surprise that he didn't know if he's being excluded from training with the first team. He's not being involved in the preparation for the match, presumably because the club wants it that way, so why should he know?

I'm not surprised, because he looks like this type of player - Unprofessional. There's a reason Colombian NT didn't called him for the Copa. There's a reason he didn't make it in bigger clubs. There's a reason his fitness is shit. There's a reason he doesn't know who Everton are playing against, and that's not because he's being excluded from training, but because of his lack of interest in the job he's being employed for.

He might not be sold, but his contract ends next summer and he'll leave on a free.

41 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

Massive flop at inter Milan he went back to Brazil.  He’s got his career back on track but this would be a big risk.  Now if it’s cheap sure it’s worth it to try and see if he’s got what it takes but 30m?  That’s a no from me.  If we are gonna spend 30m get McNeil.

It's in Euro, and Flamengo got him for 18,5m from Inter, so it's not like they are making huge profit.

1 hour ago, Cornish Steve said:

Sorry to hear this.

The advice my children gave me (they're equivalent to doctors in Britain) when my wife and I had the virus last year is (1) take daily aspirin since blood clots are an occasional problem, and (2) buy and use a pulse oximeter to check blood oxygen level. If that level drops below 90, get yourself checked out.

 And my non-medical advise, but I trully believe it's a game changer. Those who are unaware, please check out Wim Hof method. Cheers.

7 minutes ago, Matt said:

Good for him. He's just put his price tag up

I don't think so. Such an action only proves how immature and spontaneous he is. Even more so, it becomes apparent he wants out and fans want him to leave. For the sake of his future, he must come over his attitude because I can read Mario written all over his CV.

Good point. I'm also curious why they gave Donnarumma player of the tournament award. I would've expected Bonnuci to get it. Jorginho was as close, but that missed penalty took the prize away from him.

Golden Glove is given to the keeper who kept most clean sheets, just like golden boot is given to the player who scored most goals. Player of the tournament is given to the best performer.

There's no way I'm cheering for England on the final after such a disgraceful way to win at home against the football selection of a 5 mil nation. In no Earth it was a fair penalty.  

7 minutes ago, StevO said:

Mistakes? We got James on a free and when he was on the pitch he was our best player most of the time and consistently our most creative. 
If we can get a player in of Coutinho’s quality I’ll be very happy. 

James was injured or unfit most of the time, mate. He's nothing more than expensive bench player and Coutinho is in the same category. We need players who can contribute week in week out.

I would not be happy at all. James Rodrigues written all over it. Luxury "Has Been" hampered by injuries. We are going nowhere with such signings. Did we really learn from our mistakes?

Hell no. We rather give Jarrad some first team football.