Anthony Gordon

[Matt]

7 minutes ago, London Blue said:

Double post.

6 minutes ago, London Blue said:

Which is why Chelsea have bid £45 million for him....

This made me laugh 

[Goodison Glory]

8 hours ago, RuffRob said:

yes, I know all that about FFP and three years rolling account etc. But we HAD to sell Richy because we had gone beyond our limits in previous years, otherwise this coming year 'income' would have already spoken for and not room for incoming transfers. Put it this way if we had operated within FFP, we could have dug our heels in and not sold Richy before 1st July.  

My assumption is now that this summers spending on transfer fees and wages over players contracts - is within our on going affordability based on expected normal annual revenue streams what ever they maybe. Richy had to be sold at the time he was sold for us to get on this more even keel. i.e we would still be operating in significant debt in to this financial year that would hamstring us in our spending or possibly had our knuckles wrapped by the PL. 

Any potential sale of Gordan is totally different -  we have the choice, we simply keep him if it is our best interested or we sell and have all the 'extra' revenue available for other or better quality signings as we move forward so its a 'windfall' above our normal operating revenues needed to met FFP .  

 

 

 

 

 

You said Richie covers past errors and doesn't help Lamps/KT with extra spending. That is incorrect. It did help them with extra spending this year. It also did what you said it did and helped us get back in the good graces with the PL.

Agree that we were forced into selling someone in order to cover the gap between expenditure and revenue.

[Goodison Glory]

Your resident "The Athletic" poster here ;  )

Article on Gordon.

Some observations to support some of the comments on here, notably that it is his athleticism vs. skill (at the moment) and that the 45-50M fee is buying potential vs. actual output. Interesting stats about his work rate last season.

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"Frank Lampard has long been clear that when it comes to Anthony Gordon, he’s chairman of the Fan Club.

He’s talked him up, he’s afforded him one-on-one coaching — he even forked out £30,000 of his own money in FA fines for defending him following diving allegations after April’s Anfield derby.

Now a situation could materialise where Gordon is the reason for considerably more than that flowing back into Lampard’s coffers, as manager at least.

With increasing speculation Chelsea are willing to exceed £45million ($54.4m) in their pursuit of the England under-21 forward, who remains on Newcastle’s radar, Lampard and Everton’s board could be left with a difficult decision.

But what are the qualities that have put the 21-year-old Everton academy graduate into the crosshairs of Thomas Tuchel, Eddie Howe and, earlier this summer, Antonio Conte at Spurs?

It would be easy to get a warped sense of Gordon if you watched Everton’s first two matches of the season.

Out of necessity, the youngster was forced into a makeshift central role with mixed (at best) success. Gordon’s most productive work in his professional career has come from the wings. 

Taking the ball with his back to goal and attempting to hold off Kalidou Koulibaly and Tyrone Mings is certainly not his natural game. Instead, he thrives when attacking space. 

On his day, Gordon can torment defenders with his speed and acceleration. He has always been one of the fastest in the Everton squad, regularly coming in the top three or four in sprint drills. 

The teenager often relies on his raw athleticism, rather than skill, to beat opponents, pushing the ball past them and sprinting clear. He has become a useful carrier and outlet in transition for his team. So far this season, he has an average carry distance of 16.5 metres, the fifth-best in the Premier League. 

Often, as others around him shrunk under the pressure of a relegation battle, it was left to the then-teenager to grab the bull by the horns. 

In a poor Everton side, he has often been the one to give fans hope. 

The closing stages of the game at Villa Park offered a decent glimpse of Gordon as a young player. 

Shifted to the left wing, he was immediately more effective than he had been in a central role, darting behind the home defence to pick up raking passes in dangerous areas. From his preferred position, he twice came close to rescuing his side. 

But the Villa game also showed the distance still left to travel. When chances did eventually come, they were squandered. A scuffed effort into the floor, bringing a save from Emi Martinez after he burst clear of Matty Cash. Another effort straight at Martinez on his weaker foot.

The next step for Gordon, something he himself has acknowledged, is to weigh in with match-winning contributions on a more regular basis. His haul of four goals and two assists last season paints the picture of someone still trying to add a consistent cutting edge to his game. 

Per Understat, he recorded an expected goals (xG) of 3.5 and and expected assists (xA) of 3.8 last season. Not the numbers of a usual £50million player.  

Perhaps that will come in time. Last season was his first full campaign as an Everton first-team player and he was often a clinical finisher in the youth ranks. The archetypal Gordon goal would see him pick the ball up 

The other thing that marked Gordon out last season was his work off the ball. It was felt by former manager Rafa Benitez that he needed to improve his endurance in games so he could play with the requisite intensity for 90 minutes. Last summer in particular there was a drive to bulk up physically, with Gordon attending personal training sessions in a bid to get himself ready for the season ahead. 

Over the course of the campaign, he became a key part of Everton’s defensive efforts — pressing from the front and winning back possession in dangerous areas. 

Everton regularly had a lower share of possession than the opposition, but his off-the-ball stats make impressive reading nonetheless. 

He was in the top 10 percentile for combined tackles and interceptions per 90 among forwards last season. He was also in the top eight percentile for pressures, top six for blocks and top four for passes blocked. 

It is clear how he could be useful on both sides of the ball in the modern game. But this is still a player with just one full season of games at Everton under his belt. Someone with just four goals and two assists to his name. 

At £50million, Chelsea — or indeed any other suitor — would be buying potential as much as anything; an idea of the kind of player he may become rather than the one he is right now"

[StevO]

I think most of the criticism I’ve seen of him (drifts in games, runs out of steam, etc) is just typical of a young lad who’s learning his way in the game and still growing physically. Nothing that I wouldn’t expect to improve as he gets older and more experienced. 

[Bailey]

I think his defensive work is good. He does press well, he does get in good positions but like most wingers, he switches off especially running back towards his own goal.

I think his biggest issue is that his attacking work needs to be better. Even when he was played centrally, its not like he was played to be like Dom. He, and the other two, were meant to pick up spaces, get on the turn and carry the ball up the pitch. He spent a lot of time wide as opposed to being up against the centre backs. His touches and his heat map are all wide in both games. 

He did become more involved at the end of the Villa game but that was due to the situation IMO. Villa were bottling it, we were pressing and we had more players occupying opposition defenders than at any other point of the game. Its the same reason Rondon reminded people he was on the pitch. 

[Aidan]

Is he worth £50m? Absolutely not. Will we spend the £50m wisely and bring in players who have more potential than him? Likely not. Let's keep a good player and not have to rely on our recruitment to replace him, because quite frankly we are awful at it.

[Matt]

1 hour ago, StevO said:

I think most of the criticism I’ve seen of him (drifts in games, runs out of steam, etc) is just typical of a young lad who’s learning his way in the game and still growing physically. Nothing that I wouldn’t expect to improve as he gets older and more experienced. 

I wasn't meaning to criticism him to be honest, for exactly those reasons. Doesn't change his current ability though. 

[StevO]

7 minutes ago, Matt said:

I wasn't meaning to criticism him to be honest, for exactly those reasons. Doesn't change his current ability though. 

I didn’t mean you saying he doesn’t work hard. 

[Shukes]

If he is still with us Saturday, I hope the crowd sing his name continuously and make him feel this is the best place on earth right now.

[Palfy]

2 minutes ago, Palfy said:

1 hour ago, Shukes said:

If he is still with us Saturday, I hope the crowd sing his name continuously and make him feel this is the best place on earth 

I think you’re right mate. 

[Wiggytop]

2 hours ago, Shukes said:

If he is still with us Saturday, I hope the crowd sing his name continuously and make him feel this is the best place on earth right now.

We will he’s a blue … for now

[Fosse Captain]

Don’t want him to leave, as when played in favoured position he’s a threat, and will only improve. 
 

That said, Chelsea are throwing money around so if they really want him, let’s see how high they’ll go. 
The Brighton left-back as a case in point. 
We’ve constantly been screwed by teams in the past, so let’s do it ourselves. 

£65 million? 
£75 million? 

If they say No, then happy days.

if they say Yes, that could fund 2/3 players 

Win win situation 

 

[Matt]

31 minutes ago, Fosse Captain said:

Don’t want him to leave, as when played in favoured position he’s a threat, and will only improve. 
 

That said, Chelsea are throwing money around so if they really want him, let’s see how high they’ll go. 
The Brighton left-back as a case in point. 
We’ve constantly been screwed by teams in the past, so let’s do it ourselves. 

£65 million? 
£75 million? 

If they say No, then happy days.

if they say Yes, that could fund 2/3 players 

Win win situation 

 

It's win win so long as he gets his head down again if it doesn't go through.

[Fosse Captain]

36 minutes ago, Matt said:

It's win win so long as he gets his head down again if it doesn't go through.

Yeah, that’s the worry if his heads been turned. Hopefully not the case tho. 
 

[Matt]

24 minutes ago, Fosse Captain said:

Yeah, that’s the worry if his heads been turned. Hopefully not the case tho. 
 

I don't think it will be. I'm not convinced he's that weak minded, and pretty sure he hasn't signed his contract because of his agent. 

[plaidharper]

Smiling in training today, so maybe it is all just media?

[Romey 1878]

16 minutes ago, Matt said:

I don't think it will be. I'm not convinced he's that weak minded, and pretty sure he hasn't signed his contract because of his agent. 

He's still got three years left on his contract anyway, so it's hardly a problem.

[Matt]

6 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

He's still got three years left on his contract anyway, so it's hardly a problem.

It will be if he's shite because he's had his head turned and sulks. Barkley did the same. 

[RuffRob]

Would a £50M sale allow us to spend more than £50M in this window? (i.e spread over 5-6 year contracts)

Would it allow us to buy say get :

Broja - £30m

James Garner -  £14m (him and Onana could be quite the midfield pairing in 2 years time) 

Ben Bretton Diaz - £15m

12 months loan - Hudson Odoi or similar as immediate cover for Gordon? He will know playing/training with Broja, wants out of Chelsea to play and Lampard should also be fairly familiar with the lad. 

Could it even be stretcher to bring in a Sarr winger attacker type at £30m?

Does future potential of Broja, Garner and BBD cover and future potential we might miss out on with Gordon going to Chelsea.  Would be nice to have our cake and eat it - but as long as the 'team' and 'squad' develop and move forward the actual personnel doing it doesn't really matter. 

Its the old swings and roundabouts. 

+ we have some additional financial wiggle room if Alli does indeed go. 

 

[Romey 1878]

5 minutes ago, Matt said:

It will be if he's shite because he's had his head turned and sulks. Barkley did the same. 

I just meant that people being angry about him not signing a contract don't have any need to be, it's hardly a priority to get him tied down for an extra couple of years and won't stop us getting a decent fee even next summer.

[Formby]

If the difference between us getting a proven striker is the 50million+ fee, then we have to sell. What we lose on the wing is nothing. He can't cross; he can't deliver a dead ball; he doesn't score. What we gain from someone putting the ball in the back of the net is everything.      

[StevO]

7 hours ago, Wiggytop said:

We will he’s a blue … for now

We always support the blues!!!

Apart from Gary Speed.

And Ross Barkley.
Oh, and Tom Davies. 

[StevO]

3 hours ago, Formby said:

If the difference between us getting a proven striker is the 50million+ fee, then we have to sell.

We won’t be looking for a proven striker. We are looking for a back up to DCL. 

[RuffRob]

16 minutes ago, StevO said:

We won’t be looking for a proven striker. We are looking for a back up to DCL. 

It would be much better to see some competition for DCL rather than just back up. There has been no competition for him for some time now. Think either BBD or Borga would hopefully be pushing him to be starter.in the not to distant future. 

 

 

 

[Matt]

1 hour ago, StevO said:

We won’t be looking for a proven striker. We are looking for a back up to DCL. 

I hope we're not just looking at backup. We need to be signing a proven striker anyway, for alternative line ups and competition. Ideally a Maupay as back up and Broja as the starting competition.

[Cornish Steve]

Everything's gone rather quiet, hasn't it? 

[Wall Writer]

8 minutes ago, Cornish Steve said:

Everything's gone rather quiet, hasn't it? 

Was just thinking the same thing

[Cornish Steve]

https://www.football365.com/news/opinion-anthony-gordon-chelsea-50m-transfer-suits-nobody

[Shukes]

 Believe most of this is press just being press… fucking classless morons. Want a job in media? What are your values?…..

You have values? This job isn’t for you!

Chelsea have enquired and made an offer. 
Gordon has probably mentioned an interest that’s all, and they have turned it into he wants to leave and is pushing for it. The truth is most likely the complete opposite.

[StevO]

20 minutes ago, Matt said:

I hope we're not just looking at backup. We need to be signing a proven striker anyway, for alternative line ups and competition. Ideally a Maupay as back up and Broja as the starting competition.

I wouldn’t call either Maupay or Broja proven myself.