Artetasgirl

Your last player from Strasbourg was quite decent too if i remember correctly? Dacourt.

Good knowledge!

Everton had a 1.4mil euros bid accepted by Strasbourg for 19yr old striker/winger Magaye Gueye and he will join on Thursday. He is meant to be very, very quick.

French Link

I think this is from L'Equipe..

The International hopes, author of 11 goals in 2009-2010 for his official first season with the pros, has been informed in the dressing room. He knew, however, hardly ever leaving him: "All I know is that both clubs have agreed to the amount of compensation and I agreed. "

Six hours later, it was not at all. "Everton was following me, it seems, for a while, but until this afternoon (yesterday), there had been nothing concrete. I was even told at one point it was dead. This time, they assured me it was good. The majority shareholder agrees. Me too, although I do not know yet how long I will promise. I did not refuse Lyon. I just wanted to give me time because I was more tempted by England. If I had had no alternative but the OL, I'd be gone. But frankly, England suits me better. I want to see what is in my belly. "The forward and go to Liverpool this afternoon (14 pm) and will start from Thursday in training in Australia with Everton, 8th in the Premier League in 2009-2010, where competition does not look less severe at Lyons.

On the other hand, seems an Everton fan might have found a way to get Landon Donovan to come back over...

Haha...Link...

I had no idea where to put this..

Any quotes from him?

Not read it but I don't think so.

It was reported in the People, then reported in a bunch of other papers.

It might have legs as I know his kid has had eye problems but as I say, I thought this wasn't a problem anymore.

Arteta wants to leave because his baby has a medical issue so he wants to go home to Spain to be closer to he and his wives family and receive treatment there.

Words couldn't even describe how gutted I am.

I should say, it was first reported in the People, but I suspect it might be true as I know his kid has had a problem with his eyes.

Edit: I heard Arteta had sort of got over the initial shock and his son started to improve in that regard, maybe it's got worse again?!

Especially if he gets rid of Yakubu/Anichebe/Vaughn.

brings in these two on the cheap and gets one more main striker to play alongside/rotate with Saha.

Anichebe has been turned to a wide midfielder/forward, Vaughan will either be sold or spend next year on loan (at a guess) and Yakubu is almost certainly gone..

On your second point, I've heard that is exactly what he wants to do..

Nuno Valente was appointed as a scout for us in Portugal when he retired (he isn't any more, he's moved to be assistant manager at, I think, Sporting Lisbon), he had this guy watched quite a few times, sent reports over and he came over twice for trial periods, Everton were impressed and he signed now. He literally turned 20 a few weeks ago and is involved in the Portuguese u20 and u21 teams. It's not much of a gamble for the price and the fact he'g going to be on pretty low wages. He had Porto/Braga amongst teams chasing him so he's obviously got some potential.

At least it's not Jo (whose name is also Joao Silva )

From the Portugeuse Second Division 2nd highesy scorer to the Prem.... could be great could flop. Wonder what the pricetag was.

Around half a million.

You mean where they lost 3 of the 5 games they played? That run was very over-rated. They played well against Spain but were poor in the groups and lost over half their games.

I don't think England have won all 3 since I've been watching. Usually if we've qualified or only need a point after 2 we play shit and just take the draw, no idea why.

They beat Spain. You answered your own point with that answer. They beat Spain, ending a run of 15 consecutive wins and stopped them passing Brazil's unbeaten record. They did something not many other teams have managed in recent years.

They also went 2 up on Brazil in the final.

The teams they lost to were Brazil (twice) and Italy, no shame in that.

I was just mentioning what they were capable of, if you want to underestimate them, its fine by me.

... except their defense is their weakness.

Yeah, especially as Onyewu is not fully fit. I expect he started Goodson v Australia to see how he did, knowing he may have to start/bring him on against England next week. Cherundulo is a decent full back, a much better option than Spector who has been dodgy as hell lately. They have DeMerit from Watford who'll probably start, then Bocanegra (probably) playing left back.

They are dangerous going forward. Bradley is a very underrated CM and Ricardo Clark, if he's fit(picked up a late injury in the Aus game), will in all likelihood start next to him. Jose Torres is another option, he looked really impressive against Turkey. Stu Holden is a real good player too.

Then they have Dempsey and Donovan who are the dangermen, along with Altidore, if he is fit, who is a much different player with the US team than at Hull. Edson Buddle, who scored twice against the Aussies, is top scorer in MLS and has 11 goals in his 11 games for LA Galaxy and the US team this year. Robbie Findley is a wildcard, not very popular with US team fans but he looked good against Turkey, his finishing v Australia left a lot to be desired. Herculez Gomez is another wildcard but he has 2 goals in the last 2 friendlies and is top scorer in the Mexican league.

If England play anywhere near their best, they should beat them. But they should not be underestimated as their run in the Confederations Cup last year showed.

Your stadium looks really good!

Thats cos it is really good. One of the best grounds I've been to.

Vaughan is a brummie I think, wouldn't mind taking him of your hands!

Yeah he is, he always calls himself a brummie, moved to Preston when he was 5 or 6, his family moved back down to Birmingham when he was 14 but he stayed up here on his own to carry on playing for us. Love the kid but injuries have held him back so much. He'd be pretty cheap I guess.

A combined 9 goals in 35 games over the last 2 seasons says otherwise, and that he's injury prone

Actually that may be 11 goals, but whatever, its not great

Why if someone picks up a serious injury which puts them out a year does it earn them the title injury prone?

A lot of them games he came on with like 15-20 minutes to go as a substitute. He's assisted on a few goals in this time too, 4 - I think.

He's a better player than some of you are giving him credit for, in my opinion.

Yep, he was good. Got injured, lost his pace/touch. Not good enough anymore.

He gets outshone by Saha, who despite being injured all the time comes back and scores goals. Yakubu came back and did **** all, and so he's on his way.

How many of those games did he start?

From the end of February to the end of the season, Yak was a hell of a lot more impressive than Louis Saha, in my books.

For the record, Louis Saha was barely injured at all last season...

Saha's last goal for us was on February the 10th, despite appearing in nearly every game after that, he still didn't score. Yakubu scored 4 in that time despite being on the pitch a lot less time.

He'd be a great signing for Birmingham or West Ham, he's a lot better than the strikers we've been linked with, Keane, Rodallega etc

about 27 isn't he? I think he'd be great for us

Feel sorry for Vaughan, looked like he was going to be a real player a few years ago

Yeah, he's 27. He's a better player than I actually gave him credit for before we signed him, his vision is fantastic and he is so strong. Always knows where the goal is too. Just sometimes his work rate is lacking and he doesn't turn up in some games.

Yeah, I love Vaughany, gutted about all his injuries. He has a lot of potential though if he can get his problems sorted.

Yakubu is on his way for a reason.

As he wants a "fresh challenge" and Moyes needs to sell someone to get enough money to bring in his targets, Yakubu is not as important a player as he used to be for us and is someone who can fetch us a decent fee. That's why.

does that mean Yakubu's on his way out AG? I'd take him here personally

Yes, definitely leaving apparently. 2 clubs after him in England from what I heard: West Ham (which is his preferred choice because of Avram Grant - used to manage him back in Israel) and Birmingham (apparently).

Think Beckford is a replacement for Vaughan.

Well, as I said before, on a free and pretty cheap wages compared to most, decent resale value, it's not really much of a risk signing him as he won't be relied upon for being our main striker (as Moyes seemingly wants another, more proven striker too). I'm not too bothered because if he starts with this big attitude and ego and doesn't work hard, the lads in our dressing room will let him know it's not acceptable as that is how they are. Plus if it doesn't work out, I'm pretty sure we'd find someone else to take him pretty quickly.

Well I'll be honest with you AG. I didn't shed a tear when I heard we were 'falling behind' in the race to sign him. I just wouldn't want him to be taking up a precious slot as one of our summer signings.

I suppose with us, he's free, Yakubu looks to be on the way out, and Moyesy's top target is another "top" striker (as well as Beckford) it doesn't concern me as much because I'm sure if he knows what he is coming in for (I'm guessing cup/bench player) and if he does kick up a fuss or it doesn't work out, I don't see it being too difficult to offload him to the likes of Newcastle, etc., even if only on loan first.

Dzeko's agent apparently reckons Citeh are close to signing him.

I've not seen much of him but considering (the good) half of Europe was after him last season I'm going to go ahead and assume this would be very bad news for everyone else. Though I suppose we just need to get used to this kind of news...

I'm probably one of the few people who don't think he is as wonderful as everyone else seems to. Very good player like but I don't seem to rate him as much as most others do. Just my opinion though, as I say.

In other news, word on the street is Beckford was at Everton training ground today for first part of his medical that will be concluded tomorrow...Don't know what to make of it.

He looked like he'd not been away, as the amount of goals he scored showed, I think he ended with 6 or 7..

The main attribute people lose with that sort of injury is pace, Arteta has never been very quick so it hasn't affected him at all and I'm yet to see anything he can't do.

What I meant with that is not him praising his own work, and the physio praising him. They meant that by the sheer fact they used a certain tendon or something to put in place of the ligament, it is stronger than the ligament used to be. Nothing to do with the actual work.

And for the record, the surgeon says his knee is twice as strong now as it was before he did his cruciate injury..

I don't doubt what you say at all, but a surgeon saying that the operation that he has just been well-paid for was done brilliantly is hardly what you'd call independent testimony.

Our physio said it too, and Arteta has not complained once about it since he's been back. He's also one of the best knee surgeons in the world anyway so I doubt he needs to big himself up anymore.

I wouldn't buy Arteta if I were Citeh, with the money Everton would want he isn't worth it. A good player, yes. But he's had too many injuries during his career and at the age of 28 this will come back to haunt him sooner rather than later. He'll be a short term fix for a team on the up. He's better off at Everton.

Saying that, if Citeh came in with anything over £15 million and i was Moyes i'd sell.

I think the same, he gets injuries every season.

Seriously what injuries? He's had a concussion where he missed a number of games, a stomach muscle injury that was operated on so he missed the end of a season and a cruciate injury that cut 08/09 and 09/10 seasons in half. That's it, 3 injuries. Plus he's had red cards in that time, which has cut his matches down too. He rarely gets muscular injurys, and if he does, he usually plays on through them.

I don't call that injury prone.

And for the record, the surgeon says his knee is twice as strong now as it was before he did his cruciate injury..

none of this forcing the player to put in a transfer request, placing stories in newspapers and all the other rubbish that teams pull.

Yes, they do. The part which annoys me is when a club says no or not for sale, they still persist time and again when it's been made clear, it unsettles the player, and it affects the whole club. Rather than conducting their business in private its all out there infront of us. How come everytime they bid for a player everybody knows about it, yet every other club seems to be able to buy players under the radar and without news of it (maybe only small rumours). It's just my opinion but to me it is bullying tactics and I'm not a fan.

For the record, I hate the way Redknapp and Rafa conduct their business too.

I'm hoping Citeh have switched targets from Milner to Arteta following a resounding '**** off' from our club and player!!!!

I find the way Citeh conduct their business crass and bullish - to be fair, they have the money to bring in anyone they want but they could still do that with some dignity and respect for the other clubs....

They want both apparently. Arteta is the playmaker they want because Gerrard and Fabregas bids were "unrealistic" :x

Thats the thing that annoyed me most. How they conduct their business. They go out and make their bids public, putting pressure on the clubs to come out and have to either accept or reject the bids in public. It makes the players totally unsettled and turns their heads. They hawk them, even when players or clubs have said they are not interested, and they bully you into accepting. Moyes also said he knows that Lescott was tapped up continuously, so it wouldn't shock me if others were too.

I don't mind them having the money (well, yeah I do really) but if they conducted themselves better rather than using bullying, underhand tactics to get their players, I'd be more (a tiny bit) receptive to them.

The whole Lescott saga last summer was a big reason why the start of our season was so poor, it really did rock the whole club. I can't see City changing anytime soon though, so just gotta cross our fingers that our clubs stay strong.

Losing Arteta would be massively devastating for us, as Pienaar is already a goner. Zero creativity without them.