triggs

It's an obscene amount of money obviously but at least its for a guy who's definitely in the top 5 players in the world

Isn't it fairly common for him not to have trained since May given he was away at an international tournament?

It's the 22nd of July mate

Even when he was sleeping?

Iniesta is the best midfielder I've ever seen. Man of the match in a Euros final, World Cup Final and Champions League Final

I'll get slated for this, but Scholes in that Barca side would be regarded as a better player than both Xavi and Iniesta. Scholes better than Iniesta

Uh huh. Good job we have these rules in place, eh? Completely separate point but why aren't Spurs spending money or being linked that heavily with anyone bar Barkley (who probably wouldn't make your team) this summer?

Scholes had a great end to his career which I think has led to him being slightly overrated now. I think Gerrard and Lampard were better

Well I presume some of it is to do with money but Liverpool are also just a way bigger club than Southampton

Pardew-esque management

Celtic probably weren't the best team to trial it with in hindsight

I would say the complete opposite of that. Tries to do the spectacular too often. Definitely not lightweight How's that the opposite of what I said? "Without any real cutting edge" "lightweight"

I would say the complete opposite of that. Tries to do the spectacular too often. Definitely not lightweight

Particularly considering he runs the U23/reserve team and not any of the academy teams, and Gibson has not played for the U23s Thought Gibson had broke into the reserves last season

De Jong has played one pre season game and wasn't that good when he played before

From the chron. Fair enough then. Still a shame that he apparently doesn't want to stay though, whatever the reason. Yeah, I'd be interested to see if it's just down to £££ or if its something else. Might have to do with NUFC and Everton's divergent outcomes when it comes to developing prospects, coupled with the fact that Everton are a better-run club. A small lashing of this with a major helping of a 16 year old with a snidey agent craving every possible penny. Surprisingly his agent had recommended he stay for at least another couple of years. His elder brother has been frustrated at lack of a path to the first team squad due to signings like Lazaar and may well have influenced his decision. Everton are very aggressive in the youth market, sometimes borderline. Everyone at Newcastle will have wanted to keep him but if his mind was made up there's not much they can do about it. Cheers for the insight

You're just guessing its for the money. There are other reasons why he may want to leave

From the chron. Fair enough then. Still a shame that he apparently doesn't want to stay though, whatever the reason. Yeah, I'd be interested to see if it's just down to £££ or if its something else. Might have to do with NUFC and Everton's divergent outcomes when it comes to developing prospects, coupled with the fact that Everton are a better-run club. A small lashing of this with a major helping of a 16 year old with a snidey agent craving every possible penny. You're like a parody of yourself at this stage

That's the worst part, although it could be the agent in his ear telling he'll get paid far more elsewhere. Unfortunately hometown clubs mean nowt anymore when big money is waved at a local player. Based on recent history Everton is just a much better club at developing and giving young players chances. Could easily be nothing to do with money

If he turns out to be a first-team player for Everton then how? Then good on him and Everton. He'd never do that here. Why not? Carroll did, and we then got a crazy fee for him - which probably would have been even more in 2017 figures. Exception rather than the rule, though. How many other academy 'graduates' have fetched a fee anything above a nominal one? Fuck all cos we never give them a chance

He got forward a bit more but that was probably more to do with playing on the Championship

Makes me wonder if our relegation season might just have been a bad dream when I read comments like this. Yes he's got a lot of quality, for the right side in the right role he's very good. But I'm in no hurry to bring back a lad that I was desperate to see dropped at times in our relegation season. He was fucking awful for big portions of that season, including the time Rafa managed us in the Premier League. Aye it's very strange. He was an utter disgrace for us. The only player who didn't give his all under Rafa and that says a lot about him Yet you keep defending Moussa Sissoko Sissoko generally didn't go missing, he just isn't very good. Also put in a massive effort under Rafa

Makes me wonder if our relegation season might just have been a bad dream when I read comments like this. Yes he's got a lot of quality, for the right side in the right role he's very good. But I'm in no hurry to bring back a lad that I was desperate to see dropped at times in our relegation season. He was fucking awful for big portions of that season, including the time Rafa managed us in the Premier League. Aye it's very strange. He was an utter disgrace for us. The only player who didn't give his all under Rafa and that says a lot about him

Nah McCarthy is actually a very good midfielder defensively. He tends to hide when his team is in possession though, never seems to want a pass, even though he is decent technically so perhaps that could be worked on. Clucas from what I saw wasn't great defensively but was always making himself an option for a pass off the ball Eamonn Dunphy in the Irish media called him a waste of space and all but suggested he'd conspired to get his manager (Martinez) sacked. Even if there's a snippet of truth in that I'd stay well clear Eamonn Dunphy makes a living from talking and writing shit I absolutely love him but he really doesn't have a clue. Martinez loved McCarthy