Steve_E

Mirallas and Lennon should be squad fillers, Gibson shouldn't even be that.

Shame he's turning 34 already in September.

Poor game against a second Bundesliga side.

Not sure I'm keen on that.

I'm not sure I believe that we're getting one of Napoli's three best players.

I'm pretty sure you could get him for less than that 6.2m release clause if Everton are genuinely interested. In fact, quite a few Anderlecht fans seem to think they themselves should upgrade on him. Can't tell you much about him myself, other than that he's a very imposing physical presence.

He looks quick and athletic and did very well winning the ball last season, so I think he'll fit better in a high pressing side than Barry or Gibson or even McCarthy will. He's also pretty cheap so seems worth a punt.

Villa had 47% or 48% possession last year depending on where you look.

Didn't get to see the game (why can you only LIVE stream the games on the official site?), but read he got stretchered off? Any news on him yet?

Can't say I'd noticed him before, but at least he looks good on Youtube. He'd add athleticism to the squad at least, much better acceleration than McCarthy and Barry.

If we're just throwing out names, I'd like Everton to take a long hard look at Leon Bailey. 18-year-old Jamaican left winger for Racing Genk and in my opinion the most talented player I've seen in the Belgian league since De Bruyne left.

People are likely reading far too much into Lukaku's holiday. Most probable scenario is that it's catering to the star player.

I would be very happy with that. Like Barkley, he's spent too much time in the gym though.

I think the source where these rumours originated is now saying he's staying with Stoke for four more years. Here's a link to an article in German.

Kristof TerreurGeverifieerd account ‏@HLNinEngeland 2 uur2 uur geleden Axel Witsel's advisor in @hlnsport: "The reason why he's linked to so many clubs? Agents negotiating in our name, while we don't know them." Seems like their might not be a lot of truth to any of these rumours.

I don't know how no one ever seems to mention the wing position as in dire need of strengthening. We've got just three players for two positions (Deulofeu and Lennon for the right, Mirallas for the left).

For the last several years, Witsel actually has been that number six type for Belgium. He sits just in front of the centre backs, doesn't venture forward himself and doesn't put a lot of risk in any of his passes. He's been criticized for slowing the game down too much (walking with the ball for a bit when he receives it and probably passing it to a full back rather than forward). He says that he still plays as a box-to-box for Zenit, but apart from a couple of European matches against lowly Belgian competition, I haven't seen him play for them so couldn't say how he's doing for them. For Belgium at least, he's basically James McCarthy. He's more athletic etc. but he plays the game the same way. He should be partnered with someone who has more verticality to his game, who passes forward more directly, etc. Besic probably fits that part more than McCarthy and Barry, but is he actually good enough? Maybe Tom Davies could be that player, I'd like to see him in midfield rather than at rightback in the rest of preseason.

I do think that this squad needs an overhaul rather than tweaks. The author says that "Roberto Martinez arguably assembled the club's most talented group of individuals since their last title-winning season back in 1987" which I think (1) simply isn't true and (2) ignores that a lot of other midtable Premier League sides also have more talented squads than they did a couple of years ago. I think we're threadbare at the back and in goal and have a tonne of below-average players in midfield and up front.

Zenit's manager just yesterday contradicted everyone who has reported anything like Everton having a deal in place with Zenit.

http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/ http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/index.html

I'm not saying Witsel is a better option as I haven't seen enough of Carvalho to have an informed opinion of him. However, I have seen enough to know he isn't some world beater and that it wouldn't be a crazy move by Everton to prefer Witsel over Carvalho.

Recent European results suggest otherwise. I'd say it's about on par with Portugal. He plays regularly for Sporting actually, a bit below Benfica's level. Witsel however did play regularly for Benfica. Not saying he is'nt a good player because he clearly is. Just that there isn't such a clear difference with Witsel that you should get your panties twisted.

Royston Drenthe won player of the tournament at the Euro U21s once as well, and you should have seen his teammates Ryan Babel and top-goalscorer Maceo Rigters! It's a youth competition and pretty much meaningless. Congrats on him being a Portugal international, he's not likely to be shit but that's about all that tells you.

And?

I can't say as I haven't seen a lot of Carvalho, which is why I'm not making a big fuss about this.