Everton need another striker to qualify again for Europe
Everton are playing for a new stadium, and it’s a testament to their manager and their squad that they still look one of the better sides on paper despite having little money to spend this summer.
Hopefully the new stadium will help Everton grow, but more immediately, it is imperative that Moyes brings in a striker to help Everton qualify for Europe next season and maintain Everton’s status as a regular top-10 club.
Yakubu is a reported target for Everton, but one, I doubt that Boro would let him go for 4m (the price Everton seem to be willing to pay) considering their own precarious situation in the Premiership, so Moyes may be forced to bring in a striker on loan.
Manager Status: Moyes has done well at Everton over the last 3 seasons and his post is secure – but despite that he will be under pressure to replicate the successes of last season.
Transfer Analysis: Moyes has bought really well in Baines and Jagielka, and managed to offload Beattie for a good price as well. Maybe Everton could use a striker, but they missed out on Nugent because of financial constraints and those same constraints could hamper their efforts for the rest of August.
Players to watch: Baines, Jagielka Pienaar and Arteta.
August Fixtures: Home to Wigan, away to Tottenham and Reading and then home to Blackburn. It’s a competitive start to the season and it will give us a good idea of where Everton stand, especially the Tottenham and Blackburn games.
Expectations: A top-8 finish.
Predictions: Bringing in Baines was a master-stroke, and I fully expect Everton to be right up there with Tottenham. Top half of the table (5th-8th) for Everton, unless they bomb spectacularly.
Also Read:
- Play SL Fantasy Football, win $1,000
- Premiership Summer 07 Transfer List
- All 07/08 Prem Season Previews
Topics: English Premier League, Everton
Football News 24/7
You’re having a laugh? Only £4 million for Yakubu? You mean in the region of £10-12 million right, so we have the left over money for a £6-8 million bid for Fernandes? Pull your finger out. And financial contstraints for Nugent? You mean £6 million for a mediocre Championship player unproven in the Premiership which is a big, big gamble for half of the sole income of your goals? Pull your other finger out. Piss poor 3rd rate journaling.
August 9th, 2007 @ 18:20buy any striker but not cassano.
August 9th, 2007 @ 21:54£4 million for Yakubu?! Are you ripping the shit from my anus?! You’re a joke if you think that.
If Middlesbrough reportedly turned down £10-£12 million from Portsmouth & Man City, then why would they buckle under the pressure of a bank-busting £4 million offer from the ‘mighty’ Everton?
Sort yourself out, you’ve just made a bit of a pleb of yourself with that article.
Everton are a yo yo team within the premier league; one good year, one bad. Judging by this they’d better buckle up for a difficult season this time round!
03/04 – 17th
August 9th, 2007 @ 23:3004/05 – 4th
05/06 – 11th
06/07 – 6th
07/08 – ???
Woah woah woah. Keep of Ahmed’s back. He’s just voicing the £4m that is going round, whether it’s true or not we’ll have to wait and see. It may be £4m, plus player, although I’m not sure which player they could exchange, or the fee could rise, albeit significantly if those £10-12m rejections to Portsmouth and City are true.
I agree, Everton have been a yo-yo team the past few years, but I cannot see that repeating again this year, with 8th place well and truly a realistic target, if not higher, though I would say 6th being the peak of possibilities.
Dan, you have every right to say Nugent’s unproven, but England Under 21, England, and that England ‘goal’ cannot lie, and at the end of the day, if he could do the job at Preston, he would have been a top signing for the Blues. He would have slot straight into that Everton team and only improved his own game, and the Everton team, too.
August 10th, 2007 @ 11:12Everton have a set striker in Andy Johnson, and then can rotate between Vic, McFadden and Vaughany. Anichebe and Vaughan are quality young players, who can only get better, but you can’t rely on them to do it week-in week-out at this stage in their career. McFadden has his ups and downs and doesn’t always perform. So one more striker would, and could, be handy..
According to SSN and the papers today, Southgate has put £12m tag on Yakubu. I wouldn’t like to see Everton waste £12m on a player like Yakubu, over-priced and over-rated in my eyes.
August 10th, 2007 @ 11:17Tony, thanks for the cover – yes, I was quoting the 4m price from what I read in the papers, and yes, I think Nugent is a good bet at 6m. You don’t always have the masterstroke signings of Wenger where you bring in a striker at 5m and then he scores 50 goals a season. Nugent would have scored 10+ goals at Everton, I think, and that would be a decent return, right, especially if he helped Moyes rest AJ from time to time.
Vaughan is quite good though, it would be interesting to see if he can make the step up this season.
Fernandes – had forgotten about him, my bad. Too many midfielders though, don’t you think?
August 10th, 2007 @ 12:49and Yakubu at 12m isn’t worth it, but if Yak wants to leave then it will get interesting.
August 10th, 2007 @ 12:54