Gily

Yes sadly he only played 3 matches in the Premiership before his horrific injury, he scored a cracker against Chelsea on his debut :

 

 

He wasn't the Raul or Del Pierro of Belgium though, he was the unsung hero that moved to Holland after he failed to get the recognition he deserved in Belgium. He got benched too many times and snubbed twice at the player of the year awards which led to him moving abroad to Holland. He scored around 290 goals in 500 matches in Belgium and Holland when they were still at a toplevel in Europe. The only shadow on his career is his goalscoring record with the National Team, 10 in 56 matches. Many believe this was due to the difficult relationship he had with the Belgian managers/players/press despite being "a man of the people"; loved by many but shunned by the elite.

 

When people talk about the greatest Belgian players in the past they always mention Scifo, Van Himst, Preud'homme, Gerets, ... but never Nilis so that's why I brought him to attention.

-------------------Courtois------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

Lahm-------Stam--------Maldini------R.Carlos

------------------------------------------------------

-------------------M.Dembélé---------------------

------------------------------------------------------

----------------------Zidane-----------------------

--T.Muller------------------------------Nedved--

------------------------------------------------------

--------------Ronaldo------Nilis------------------

 

 

 

Don't mind the formation, I just wanted all these players in

 

All pretty known names, I didn't pick the "best" team but I picked the most entertaining team for me to watch, I absolutely loved/love seeing them play.

 

The least known name might be the most entertaining one : Nilis - Made the best striker partnerships I've ever seen with Ronaldo and later on with Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

 

 

A must see clip of him, his kicking technique is out of this world, just a small sample of his beautiful goals :

 

It's from an interview with the Belgian press, they asked if he spoke to Chelsea and he denied. Nothing whatsoever of him asking Chelsea for a bid, just the Sun fluffing their stories.

Gily, first of all, because a player is just nearly good enough for a Belgian top team, doesn't mean he won't make a career in the EPL. There is something like a "footballing style" which determines much more how well a player will perform in a different competition, much rather than his performances. Here's something that should make it all clear

 

Yes I agree if the target is a relegation zone club, we're talking about Everton here so he has to be something special really you can't defend a player who has been out of form for the past years just because he had the odd blinder.

NIKICA JELAVIC

Failed at a mediocre Belgian team. I'm not saying you do, but don't follow everything the popular media say.

How about a real name : Romario who was denied by Anderlecht

 

I haven't seen Jelavic play for Zulte so your point is moot I'm not the trainer who failed to see his potential nor do I follow the Belgian media who actually are the ones hyping up your golden boy Odjidja. I never thought Odjidja was anything special, just like how I see Mbokani failing again after moving from Anderlecht while the press are licking his heels because he bullies the worst defences this country has ever seen.

 

I'm not saying he's good enough for, say, Tottenham or Arsenal, but neither is Kevin Mirallas.

Well isn't this ironic, weren't you the one saying Mirallas is the poor-man's Ronaldo who Everton absolutely needed to sign, he was supposedly even better than all the Arsenal players. I even remember you saying he would score 15+ goals this season while I said I would be happy for him if he managed to score 5 in the EPL. Refaelov is a big fish in a small pond, and honestly he's not even that I don't rate him at all.

 

 

I do think you prematurely hail Malanda. He has potential and that's about it at this point. He's too young to have proven anything and still has a lot to learn. You can't have any idea where he'll be in 4 years from now. He is not an alternative to Odjidja by any means. At this point, Malanda would be nothing else than a fine addition to your youth players.

Well that's part of the whole scouting game isn't it, seeing potential early on so you beat your competitors. I do believe Malanda is already capable of playing at that level, I could easily see him doing a good job in Phil's spot. Gibson is the creative one, you need a destroyer next to him which Odjidja is not.

Some would compare him to Dembele, but really, Odjidja still has a LOT to learn

Some who are completely delusional yes

Dembele is perhaps a bit better with the whole dribbling thing

You're having a laugh right ?

 

 

I've never seen someone overrate players more than you "Mirallas", it's ok to be chauvinistic but you seem to actually believe the things you're saying.

 

Odjidja & Refaelov are mediocre, good enough for a weak Belgian side ( which Brugge currently are ) but nowhere near good enough for a EPL team, I don't need to remind you the games against a weak Newcastle B right ? It would have been a trashing Villa-style if they fielded their A-players.

 

Odjidja is basically Vanden Borre MK2, lots of potential but never consistent, when his moral drops it drops hard.

 

 

If there's one player Everton should go for from the Belgian league then it's Malanda who apparently already has lured a couple of Everton scouts this season, affordable and a future worldbeater in my eyes.

I reckon Alderweireld will cost around 8m, he's basically an inferior copy of Vertonghen/Vermaelen : Good defender but loses focus from time to time.

 

 

.................. .Howard.......................

Coleman...Jags..Distin...Baines

..........Fellaini.........Gibson..........

Mirallas.............................Pienaar

.......................................................

............Bacca.......Jelavic.............

 

.................. .Howard.......................

Coleman...Jags..Distin...Baines

..........Fellaini.........Gibson..........

Mirallas.............................Mertens

........................Pienaar....................

................... Jelavic.....................

 

.................. .Howard.......................

Coleman...Jags..Distin...Baines

..........Wanyama.........Gibson........

Mirallas.............................Pienaar

....................Fellaini.......................

................... Jelavic.....................

 

.................. .Howard.......................

Coleman...Jags..Martins Indi...Baines

..........Osman.........Gibson........

Mirallas.............................Pienaar

....................Fellaini.......................

................... Jelavic.....................

 

4 very possible options all worth less than/around 10m

 

Bacca : this guy is phenomenal, Colombian striker playing for Bruges, scored 11 goals in 10 games so far ( and about 4 incorrect offsides ), but it's not the amount of goals it's how he takes them, honestly he reminds me a lot of Falcao.

Mertens : well you know Hazard, this is the guy that occasionally keeps him out of the national side, he's very similar just a bit smaller

Wanyama : Celtic's beast whose drawing attention from big clubs, he would be an excellent replacement for Fellaini ( defensively ).

Martins Indi : 20 year old centre back from Feyenoord who could also act as a backup for Baines, or let Baines move a row forward. I believe that he'll be one of the best CBs in 5 years time.

 

Fellaini's money could actually buy 3 of them which is something to be very excited about but there's a snowball's chance in hell that this would happen

There's 1 name that instantly springs to mind for me : Sinan Bolat of Standard Liège

 

He's been out for 6 months because of an injury and the club already bought a new nr1 GK to fill his shoes(gloves). His contract ends in June and Standard are looking into selling him in January. He's been completing his rehabilitation at Fulham so I'm expecting that's where he'll end up.

 

Pros :

- Well obviously he's a great keeper, if I'd have to compare him I'd say he's similar to Al-Habsi but a bit better

- VERY cheap

- Powerful and highly accurate kicks

- Good ballcontrol and ground passing

- Above average on penalty stopping

- 24

- Experience in CL/EL played 22 matches and had 9 clean sheets

- Vocal

 

Cons :

- He has a temper, he likes to taunt the opposition & is known for throwing some punches/knees, he's definitely no Howard

- Might be a risk looking at his injury record

Selling Fellaini therefore looks to me as a potential gain on the footballing side as well, depending on how much we sell him for. Say 28 to 30 million pounds and it gets a green light from me. Replace him with Porto's Defour for about 10 to 15 million maximum. Defour has much more of a fighter spirit, does some very good man-covering and gives great tactical passes. The downside is that he's another shorty. But it's just an idea, to sketch my point.

 

Except for the fact that Defour has the same pricetag on him, it's Porto we're talking about, he's got a 30m clausule.

 

Money is a big issue and the only options that I see is buying young or stealing them away from teams with financial problems ( Spain/Portugal/Greece/Italy ).

 

There's enough cover now with the current team so I'd say buy a young promosing talent because finding a good DM that's not taken by a topclub is hard. Someone like Wanyama - Acquah - Chantôme - Rabiot - Westwood (Villa) - Malanda should be possible to get and I'm sure they'd be starters/future star(ter)s. It would also leave a lot of money for other positions that will start to need replacements, the squad isn't the youngest anymore, so spending a lot of Fellaini's money on one player is a big nono for me.

Mertens is rubbish. Belgium must have a better left him than him (or striker and put Mirallas on the left).

 

We do, there's many options but noone dares to see further than the end of their nose, everyone is blinded by the godchild that is Hazard and Mertens is basically a 2nd grade version of him. Both of them wouldn't be in my lineup if I was the manager. Even Robben is less obvious cutting inwards to goal, that says a lot.

Not exactly, I've been watching him since his early Lille days, he always looked promising but never really delivered. In Greece that changed and the fans are behind him but nowadays there isn't much difference between the Greek League and the SPL, it's rapidly declining. Olympiakos towers above the rest so it's a bit easier to score than back at Lille/Saint-Etienne or on International level. If he would sign I wouldn't expect him to score more than 5 goals in a full season.

 

As an Englishman i've seen many a person who is a fan of an overspending average club come on here and make posts like that.

 

Au contraire my friend, I think Everton might be my most watched team since Fellaini joined, think I watched around 30 games last season.

As a Belgian I've seen him play many times and I'm surprised by all the credit he gets. For me he's a pretty average player, one in a dozen. He's a bit faster than the average guy, he's an average dribbler, average first touch, average shot at goal, average header, average passing on the ball.

 

So yea ... he'll fit in with Everton but he won't bring any added value, I find him a bit pricey for what he's offering. If I have to compare him with a former Everton player it's easy : Bilyaletdinov

 

Just giving you a heads up