As I write we are about an hour away from August 31st. Traditionally this is a date to strike fear into the heart of Evertonians everywhere - transfer deadline day. Darmesh Sheth, Jim White and Brian Swanson....the merchants of doom! This year however, I feel no fear.
To date this has been the best summer transfer window that Everton have had in ages. So far it appears we are building on the progress made in January and this positivity has been reflected in our excellent start to the season. We look a more balanced side than we have since selling Lescott. As this is Everton we can never completely rule out Baines or Fellaini being sold tomorrow but for once it would be a massive surprise.
Truth be told im so happy with our business so far that any extras are just a cherry on top. I fully expect a few loans to come in though - one of them a striker where we appear light in decent cover for Jelavic. But with all of this in mind I feel i'm in a position to really enjoy all of the ups and downs that deadline day will bring and i think it promises to be a very interesting one. With so many teams changing managers this summer there are a number of clubs rebuilding, which has led to some surprise sales and purchases already and it seems that this trend will continue tomorrow.
As we approach midnight on the 30th Aug here are the things that have interested/amused me most about this window so far:
- Brendan Rodgers openly touting virtually all of last years RS signings to anyone who will listen. They'll be paying them to leave by midday tomorrow.
- AvB sweeping out half of the spurs squad (there's got to be a few here we could take) and effectively writing off their season whilst the new team gels. P.s not a criticism, i think next year they'll be awesome if they dont bottle it like Abramovich did last year.
- Spurs having to put up with their chairman doing a Kenwright on them - holding out selling a prized asset til the last minute to get a top price and then going beserk trying to spend the money (in Bill's case half the money). This morning Sky sources had Levy flying to Marseille to open talks with Loic Remy, by the time i got home from work Marseille had denied all knowledge and AvB was saying they were never interested. Its a long way to go to get a no. I think Levy wouldve been better sending a delegation.
- Citeh signing Richard Wright
- Martin O'Neill spending £12million on Steven Fletcher in what I firmly believe is the WORST value for money signing in recent history. While i'm on MON i can see him leaving Sunderland in all kinds of mess - his tactics are outdated and his strategy appears to be to spend every penny he is given no matter how good the players available are. Expect him to flounce when the board eventually turn off the tap having realised theyve only gone one place higher in the league table in two years time. And then expect them to be in financial difficulties.
- QPR signing Julio Cesar, Esteban Granero and as i speak, it appears, ex-blues target Stephane M'Bia. They're going for it for sure but does bringing in this type of player to a club like QPR ever work? Or will it end in dressing room bust ups, player strikes, manager sacking, relegation and then administration. Sure they're being bankrolled by some very rich folk and Fernandes is by all accounts a decent bloke but then billionaires seem to have a nack of seperating themselves from the football club entity when things go pear-shaped - see Sasha Gaydamak, Craig White, Carson Yeung, West Ham's Icelandic owners etc etc.
- West Ham and Southampton, two teams with recent history of financial mismanagement taking the opportunity to spend ridiclously beyond their means again the minute the opportunity has arisen. Southampton in particular apparently spending 11.6m on Gaston Ramires seems ridiculous (if it actually happens). He could be amazing but f**k me he's one player - unless he's Messi he wont keep them up single handedly. Surely they couldve spent that money more wisely on a few more modest signings throughout the team?? Did they not learn that the two teams who kept the most consistency from their championship teams last year (Norwich and Swansea) were the ones who stayed up easily, whilst QPR who spent all over the shop narrowly escaped relegation on the final game of the season.
So anyway, fingers crossed for tomorrow. Ive got this image that Moyes will be sitting there watching and ready to pounce on one of the quality players that will no doubt make a surprise move tomorrow. We can only hope.
