Nine

I think he’s actually a bit underrated going forward as you say obviously no Trippier but he has shown himself to be effective enough, very very solid defensively and as consistent as you like so far at PL level? I was expecting him to be £20-25m.

I don’t expect us to shift any of the core members of the dressing room this summer so the likes of Lascelles, Shelvey (would keep anyway) and Dummett will stay. Almiron, Gayle, Fede, Clark, Lewis, Krafth almost certain to leave if we can do deals for them all.. I think we will bring in 5 + Targett.

£15m for him looks a steal

That’s fair enough, I get the thinking. I’d prefer that to but we might need to move the project along a year or two before we can tempt some high level young players.

If 35-40m for a just turned 31 yo is to much then would you not pay 8-10m for a 35 yo like say.. Dzeko either?

Him turning 31 doesn’t put me off at all tbh, with his physical build and style of play he could easily play at the top level for 4/5 more seasons.. but I can see why £40m for a 31 year old might seem a bit much. To me he perfectly fits the bill of what we’d be looking for, as for Calvert Lewin wouldn’t he be on more than 100k a week at Everton? I think it’s pretty safe to count out any player that’s earning north of that number for the next window.

I suppose at this point it’s worth mentioning that our current record unbeaten streak is 11 games

I really hope the rumours about Zapata during January were concrete, that guy is a monster and as much of a ready made premier league striker as you could find outside of England. Would probably cost around £40m but I’d be more than happy to bet that he’d end up being worth every penny.

Did they talk about his injury much? Will give it a listen tonight

If Howe is as pragmatic as I believe he is then this lad will be gone in the summer, he’s served us well over the years and has been great value for money but it’s time for a new number 1 I think.

2. If we can get at least 4 points from our next 4 games I think we’ll be pretty much there.

Who is assuming hes right about everything? And thats such a black and white comment to make

I think its fairly clear what he planned with Bruno now, lets not forget that when we signed Bruno in the previous 3 games we had just lost 0-1 to Cambridge at home and then conceded a very late goal at home to Watford and drew 1-1. It would have been very easy for Howe to slot Bruno straight in for Everton even though he'd only been signed 2/3 days before hand, but Howe has shown us that hes willing to leave a £40m midfielder on the bench and ease him into the team rather than throwing him in at the deep end preferring to show faith in the same 3 midfielders that had been playing since Clark got sent off vs Norwich and that had subsequently struggled up until we beat Leeds. Its a clear sign of what he intends, he knows his starting 3 even with a huge new signing. As someone else has mentioned we will have a run of 4 games in 10 days so we might expect to see him start there somewhere, again though it really is crazy to me that people would just take out 1 of the 3 to start him against Brighton - they would have done this since Bruno signed and maybe we wouldnt have got the results that we have..

I reckon they would let him go for somewhere around £20m and he easily looks worth so far but we’ll know for sure come end of season.

Nah it would be so silly at the moment, the complete wrong decision to make.

What sense does it make to change the current midfield? We are second in the form table over the last 5 games only behind Liverpool who have won 5 out of 5, what kind of message would it send to drop one of our starting 3 midfielders for 5 those games just so Bruno can get a start? Absolute madness to be honest and I've seen people suggesting all sorts like shifting Willock out wide, dropping Shelvey, changing formations just so we can accommodate Bruno.. theres no need to change this team right now. Injuries and possible lack of form will see him get a start then he can show why he should be a part of the starting 3, I get that everyone wants to see him start (I do to) but it makes no sense to chop and change this midfield after the run we've been on. If we carry on this type of form for the forseeable he might not even start until next season or until we are mathematically safe.

2nd in the last 5 games form table

Been wanting to see a goal or an assist from him for a few weeks, no one in the team deserves it more. If he can contribute to 8-10 goals a season I really feel that he can become an elite midfielder.

Also need to point out how impressive we've been minus our key players albeit today helped by a red (that was a red), its still strange to me to feel this club so united for once and not just on the pitch.

2.5 now. Brentford, Watford and Norwich I think will go, god isnt kind enough to let us see Everton relegated.

Fans/pundits have twisted about his man marking system saying it’s the root of their problems but they’ve used it very effectively over 3/4 seasons now.. think their bad form is much more down to personnel (injuries) rather than the system failing. Shame for Bielsa and Leeds fans I bet they are gutted it’s ended on bad terms with him.

Said earlier in the other games thread I'd be surprised if he didnt leave over the next few weeks

What a pass, free kick in a great spot to

Please just be game management from Joe