Hafnia

If ever the club needs some positive things to happen it is now, we are contending with that horrible sod hughes who now says "he understands David's annoyance, it is annoying when a big club comes in for one of your players?" In other words, "Man city are bigger than Everton" not getting into that one.....they won the league twice, nuff said. We need freshening up big time, however we do it I don't care, we need a midfield general, could we swap fellaini for defour and throw £5m in there? Fellaini is not good enough, he made Fabregas look like Usain Bolt for his goal. Yobo is scary, poor defender . I would throw in Rodwell than have Yobo playing. Need Jags back asap. Really poor start, Arsenal were good and we were extremely poor.

This is the type of signing we need, similar to mascherano with more skill. Awesome for me on footy manager 2008. Loan then buy is perfect, with mascherano living in the city hopefully he can settle which has been his problem at valencia.

This is a bit like expecting to be taken for a nice 3 course meal and ending up in the queue at mcdonalds. Whilst i'm doing that analogy - why not go for a big slap up fancy meal, impress the mrs, and then later on if there is a gap in the belly, grab a cheeseburger just to finish things off. You can bet your bottom dollar if you buy a few cheeseburgers, you don't have the space for a fillet steak. We do not need these types of players, Gosling could develop instead of having this lad take up space. We need players who will take us forward, not to increase the number of players who can do a job. Any money we have in the regoin of 2-3m should be used to pay a premium to get a top class player.

That raises a good point, when was the last time we seen a player slalom through challenges and leather one in ala Robben, Ronaldo. I'm thinking Rooney vs Leeds was the closest, would be nice to see.

I think one of the key facts is that he is english, and if platini get's his way, then city are one of those teams that will suffer with the new additions especially. Hence Johnson at £18m. Problem is now with city and their millions, footballers in some cases (excluding kaka and almost JT) are being shown for their greed. It may well be the case that the type of footballer city are attracting are the ones that look at their bank balance rather than their prozone stats. If that is evident on the field, you may end up with disharmony. I just wish the whole thing never started, if we had £25m to plan to spend amonth ago we would be ok, this is all too late in the day and disrupting.

Yep - we hear that you have bid £19 million, maybe £22m would be an acceptable offer in normal circumstances - however to put it this way (quote from wikipedia) "When a footballer is under contract with a club, he can only leave if the club agrees to terminate this contract. As a way of compensation, the club to whom the player is transferring will usually pay a capital sum. This is known as the 'transfer fee'." Compensation being the key word. If we keep Lescott, who will you buy? Evidently someone less capable than he is, otherwise you wouldn't be still trying to buy him 4 days from start of season. Now in a way of compensation, Liverpool paid £18m for a similarly capped full back. We have a international left back/centre half who in my opion is the 4th best English centre half behind ferdinand, Jagielka, and Terry. Terry you were prepared to pay £35m for, Rio would be off the scale and Jags is difficult to price. £22m at this stage is not compensating us for losing a player that we would need to replace in two positions - which is why Hughes wants him as back up for Bridge (he is better than bridge defensively and is a threat from corners) £25m+ would potentially give us the resource to replace him at centre half and leave some money to strengthen elsewhere. It does get my back up when people say lescott is not worth more than £x million, if we don't want to sell at £x million then he obviously is worth more to us than that sum of money. He is better than Toure, Kompany is a defensive midfielder for you so he is not comparable, and onuha would be in the England squad not under 21's if Lescott was no better.

let's face facts, lescott is not the only centre half capable about doing a good job for us, there are plenty out there who may be cheaper and have more poential, the fact that we are on page 70 of this 'rumour' means that the club will have known about city's interest for quite some time. The fact is - the club do not have the excuse of saying "Joleon's request was untimely" - to have any confidence in the people running this club I would like to think that the contingency plan is all there ready to be rolled out. Look at Liverpool, lose Alonso, replace with aquilaini straight away. fact is £25m will be good business if we have planned for his exit and put all other deals in place. If we haven't then i'm afraid it's open season on those ath the helm.

The only way we should sell is: 1. We get £30m - no less. (£22m plus Onuha or Richards) 2. We have a replacement (not senderos) international quality lined up who can command back line till Jags comes back. 3. We utilise all money to strengthen other areas of the squad (right back, left winger) The whole summer saga routine is starting to really annoy me now. Moyes has worked miracles in ensuring the board are not targetted by the fans in getting us to 5th place, a cup final etc. I am lucky enough to have seen us win the league and the only thing that really irritates is that the whole future of the club is lying in the hands of the man who hasn't got any money to put into the club. Healthy respect for how we do things isn't enough for me, we need to be able to challenge for the league, and for players. If Lescott was at Liverpool or Man Utd, City would offer £30m+ because they know they can't financially bully them. City's money men are trying to get Lescott on the cheap because they know we are financially vulnerable. To sell for less than £30m would be madness. Look at what Liverpool were quoted for the lad from Hull (all because they had £30m in their pocket) Any excessive money gained for lescott will disappear into the hands of a canny club who will make us pay over the odds.

people have always said they prefer city to Man Utd, that's understandable because of the success Utd have had, it's natural to go for the underdog. However in chatting to a Man U fan the other day and discussing their growth it became clear that united owe their wealth down to the solid business model they built over the years whilst enjoying the success that came along after discovering the likes of scholes, beckhams etc. With the titles they won etc, they ensured their brand was worldwide, extended the stadium and yes to apoint converted and inherited some glory seeking fans. They have never bowed to player power, they stuck behind ferguson, bought well, sold when the player wasn't good enough and as a result reaped the rewards. Yes I do not like to see united win, especially with rooney there, however, to think that city deserve their time by some fortune of inheriting a vast some of money is madness. Maybe as Evertonians we should hope that doing things the way united have done is the right way to success and will therefore get us what we are due. We know how much we have detested the likes of the barcodes, and Spurs for trying to buy their way through. The way we do things is the right way, and when the reward comes along it will be sweeter, and we will find that other fans and neutrals will be happy for us. And no, I do not like united at all!!!

Got to agree, whether or not you agree with the type of player - who they are etc, fact is Moyes has identified them as an achievable target and therefore we should get them. For want of a better word we are abysmal at getting players that other teams are interested in. Only when there is a player that no one else seems to want are we able to get them. Unfortunately sometimes you need to get in an auction, that is the nature of the business, matches are often won on who wants it more, why not transfers? (always to a point I may add) Maybe if we acted better, sooner and clinically last year we may have got a more mobile midfielder than Fellaini at a lesser cost. Sorry Felli fans.

City with all "their" millions are about as popular as lottery lout Michael Carroll (remember him?). He may well have had the money to buy a big house next to lesser off successfull businessmen (who built up their fortunes through hard work and graft) But when he starts bringing the attention of the media to where he is, dressing up in massive gold chains, flouncing his cash wastefully whilst the local drive around quietly in their Bentleys surely he can't expect to be popular? To top it off, he decides he wants to be accepted so he offers his next door neigbour money for his most favoured car which the neighbour does not wish to sell? Even if he gets that car will it take away the fact that he can not act with class and chooses to financially barge his way around, forgetting that he was previously claiming benefits? I can't see why that would get peoples backs up? It's Friday, analogy day........................

Sun reporting it's done at £22m plus add ons. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2573491/Joleon-Lescott-set-to-sign-for-Man-City.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=Football The add on better be Onuha at that price. Problem is a diluted none international version of Joleon is going to cost £15m now.....

£20m is disappointing, if they will pay over £30m for John Terry we should be looking at £30m no less. Play hard ball with them, let's face it, English defenders, who is left for them to buy? The lot acrss the park paid £18m for a right back and they are not exactly rolling in cash are they? If we get £30m, spend £15m on defensive replacements and go after Moutinho.

Turner from Hull, Wes Brown, Distin, Cahill, Hangeland, Dunne, Richards, Onuha, Lucas Neill, Carvalho? (would be awesome if we could), Ryan Nelson All of these stand out in the mind for being solid, not senderos, go on any Arsenal forum and you will see what they think of him. We can get better than Senderos.

Senderos is a big no from me, just the other day I was stating how poor he is. He is far too error prone, if AC Milan don't want to take up an option to buy at £6m and Arsenal don't want him, why is he good enough for us. Big mistake to buy him. For every good tackle there is a lapse of concentration. Back up for £2m maybe, to replace Joleon, no chance.

That's understandable, it's a bit like giving your kid 50p a week pocket money and saying "don't worry kid, if you want to spend that on midget gems, I won't steal them" it's friday - great day for analogy's

In an ideal world, Moyes will have a centre half lined up ready to replace (lad from Hull let's just say - £8m) If they really want Joleon equal to the level that we don't want to sell then £30m+ is the price - JT is out the way - they have highlighted how much they wanted to pay for him which gives us our benchmark, upson is not in lescotts class in the sense he is centre half only. I can honestly see Moyes sticking out for £30m - hopefully on his return to the UK he will have identified the players he wants in using the money he feels we will get for Joleon, maybe we will get them agreed in priciple and the the transactions happen. That's an ideal situation for me, as much as I want to keep him, £30m could really give us strength in other areas whilst replacing Joleon at a lesser value.

A gent who set the blueprint of how managers should conduct themselves. Never seen to get involved in mind games or bickering. When looking at his clubs and achievements remains one of the best english managers. Showed courage and dignity to the end. RIP Sir Bobby.

I wouldn't deal with that bunch from north London - they buy who we want and flog who they don't want. Just feel like we are running on hand me downs, let other clubs get what they want and hope we can help failures rediscover their former glories.

Agree with your sentiments - I think Rodwell may end up playing 80% of the games in midfield as a ball winner for arteta.... however we are in dire straits yet again if we lose a couple of players to injury. We need to insure the core of the team, at this moment we are down on players - we released castillo and van der meyde who were squad back up. Didn't the CEO say he seen our targets and was excited?

To be honest I would only include Jo if it was negotiated as 'an option to buy at £5m' - in other words if we decide we don't want Jo at the end of next season they pay us a further £5m so to speak. He has a lot to prove for me.

yeah soz - quoted the wrong response!

£7m is the only official bid we have made this summer. That was for Naughton, any other bids? As far as I can see apart from that we are talking bosmans and loans. Anyway - that was my reason for £7m

I think we all need to look at this from a financial perspective not an emotional perspective. If we had a problem spending money like Real and City then keep Joleon. This issue we have is that we have no money and a weak depth of strength in the squad. Every player has his price. Given that Johnson went to Liverpool for £18.5m then as far as I'm concerned the starting price is £25m. Allied to the fact that we are dealing with a club that has excessive sums of money, and that Joleon can cover at LB we are really looking at £30m plus. If Moyes gets his original budget prob (£7m)plus the £30m for Lescott we could seriously get the players in we need. A left midfielder, right back, Moutinho/Defour and a centre half. Something is going on - why are we looking at bosmans and loans? surely we get £15m each year for transfers? I think if we sell Lescott we will just get the same money back for transfers and big bill will save the £7m for another day............. One thing is for sure, we don't ever have enjoyable transfer windows do we!

ffs, just give him the dosh he wants. Chances are he will want parity with arteta, cahill, saha, fellaini and yak, and to be honest he would be justified. Why piss him off when we would only get £8m for him but would need £15m to replace him. Consistent performer, fan favourite, I do not want to see another Don Hutchison situation again. Don wanted a few grand more when he was on 15k, and we had players like campbell and big dunc on 35k. Pienaar could look at fellaini and demand same pay.