Lillelord

Seems to have made a good start to his Gretna career, although they lost 2-0 against Hearts. From The Scotsman: The diminutive striker John-Paul Kissock, a loan acquisition from Everton, scampered forward with the ball at his feet – and although that move also broke down, it hinted that Kissock, easily the most impressive of Gretna's new boys yesterday, will offer energy, enthusiasm and no little skill. He had some neat tricks – including one that took him past Robbie Neilson in the box in the second half – and Irons raved about him afterwards as a player "with a big career in football in front of him". Also, MOM according to Gretnas website

You're wrong mate, Nigeria ended 3rd in 2006, 2004 and 2002 and 2nd in 2000. Would be silly to expect them back early...

He's a bit of a highlights player, but I'd doubt it if he would be a regular starter for us... As I said earlier, he's out of contract soon, so you'd be crazy to pay anything near that amount. Can get him for free by X-mas

Being Norwegian, I've watched Braaten many times. He's got good technique, very good acceleration and is strong. Scores the odd wonder goal now and again, but in the past he's been criticized for beeing to lazy. I'm not sure Premier League would be his best destination, but he's got potential so you never know. It can be a bit hard to fit him into our formation, though, as he is best as a forward/wing in a 4-3-3. Overall I think he's a decent player, and I think his contract is due to expire soon so he would be cheap (less than £ 1m). I still don't think we will buy him, as he is not the kind of player Moyes is usually buying...

I don't see how these kind of wages are a problem for players on a free transfer. If we assume that our wage budget allows 40k a week for top players, the difference is 20k a week. Since there is no fee for the player, we should be able to afford a higher sign-on fee. 20k times 52 weeks is about 1m a year. If we sign him on a four year deal on 40k a week, the difference is 4m per year. If we are interested, we could simply agree to pay 3-4m extra in sign-on fee and still keep our wage structure. This would have course need to be added to his "standard" sign on fee, but I would still assume it's a pretty good deal for a player this calibre. And if things don't work out, I'm sure we can get a pretty good deal if we deceide to sell him at a later time.

Yes it is. My point was just that it is hard to judge how good he really is when he's playing with other 15-year olds. There's a huge step from that to the reserves or first team.

According to this article, Jose Baxter was named the player of the tournament in a recent tournament in Austria. Good news I guess, but I also think he needs to make a strong impact against players his age if he is anywhere close to coming through the ranks at Everton.