SpartyBlue

Agreed. If you look at his per 90m stats in the premier league he’s about a 1 in 3 guy. Not spectacular but useful. Everywhere except with us.

I agree, I’m just making the point that it wasn’t so much that Maupay was awful (even though the results were) he just isn’t a good fit for that system. I always thought Dom would be most effective with a second striker but we haven’t seen much of that and I don’t think we can expect to.

The problem with this is you only ever adjust upwards in football. Take Dom who has been unproductive for 3 seasons. By all rights he should be taking a cut but that will never happen. Ultimately it’s just supply and demand. If other clubs will pay our players as much or more than we are obligated to match or lose them. If other clubs won’t pay then that than regardless of performance there is no reason to pay them more.

Part of the reason Maupay didn’t work is because we treated him like he was Dom and they are different players. Which is why he had decent success before he came to us and a good stretch on loan away from us.

His shooting has never improved though. Dom has his attributes but he doesn’t beat a man often and he hardly ever scores from behind the penalty spot. This is year 9, he’s not some young pup we are hoping to develop. The difference between Dom and a Harry Kane or whoever you like is that those elite guys will convert the chances their teammates provide but will also create their own offense at times. Dom doesn’t create offense. When he gets the ball 20 or 25 yards from goal do you think to yourself that there will be a real chance here? I personally don’t. Now think of Lukaku who was dangerous anytime he got 1 v 1 or was within shooting distance. I think most of us like a Dom but he’s limited and always will be.

It was very out of character for him though. Think back on how many times he’s done that in his Everton career. I cannot think of many.

Gordon too. If our attacking players are above a certain level we struggle to hold on to them. Sad reality

It’s pre-season

Then our players are likely to be worse. If we stuck to that I’m not sure we’d have anyone in the top 100 paid players in the league. Can’t win like that

There is no way Dom should be earning anymore than he does now with us or anyone else. Doesn’t mean he won’t but he hasn’t earned that. Really he should be taking a bit of a pay cut to stay but things don’t tend to work like that. At the least his next contract should be heavily incentivized

In fairness you seem unsure where you got this information and have provided no source. Not a lot to make the information credible is there

To be fair that level of wages is not particularly remarkable if you look at the landscape of the premier league. There have to be 50 players at least making as much or more than those. Which makes the point how difficult it is to compete with clubs who pay a dozen players more than our top earner makes

His return has been poor the last several years and he’s no longer young in the game. No matter what anyone thinks that reality is inescapable. He’s been a significantly below average premier league striker for a while. Continuing to offer him increased wages is just holding the club hostage. He’s a backup striker on a good team.

This will be the case no matter when he leaves though. Certainly there is more chance now that you’ve brought someone in.

Yeah this is my thought too. The risk reward is so good for us. If it doesn’t work out it’s not the end of the world. If it does he’s twice as talented as anyone in the squad and would really want to be here. Even a less version would be good business and he’s only 28 without too many miles.