What next for Everton?

After another season which started so poorly and ended with such promise Evertonians yet again find themselves wondering how the club are going to take the necessary steps to help the club progress to the next level. David Moyes has consolidated us in and around the Europa League spots, which is infinitely preferable to spending every other season fighting relegation, but with other clubs around spending heavily this is becoming more and more difficult to maintain.

Players out

The club again appears to have little money to spend so Moyes is likely to have to raise transfer funds by selling, and will need to spend shrewdly. James Vaughan has already left for Norwich for £2.5 million, while Iain Turner, Kieran Agard, Hope Akpan and Thomas Donegan have all left on free transfers. Jan Mucha is fed up of bench warming , and is unlikely to remain at the club. Yakubu is on his way out, and his sale should raise £3 million. Fenerbache are rumoured to want to sign Joseph Yobo permanently, although they are balking at the £6 million price tag. More likely if he goes we’ll get £3-4 million.

As usual, there are no shortage of rumours in the papers linking Everton’s top players with the bigger teams. Jack Rodwell has long been linked with a move away, with Man Utd or Man City potential destinations for an estimated £20 million. Big spending City have also been linked with player of the season Leighton Baines for £25 million (or £20 million plus Wayne Bridge). Looking less likely to leave, despite interest from Real Madrid and Chelsea, is Marouane Fellaini. Of all the players linked with a move away Fellaini is the most important to the team, and the most difficult to replace. He’s one of the only midfielders in the Premier League truly capable of dominating a midfield, particularly now he’s sorted his disciplinary problems. However he’d command a £20-25 million fee if he was to leave.

One player who perhaps surprisingly hasn’t yet been linked with a move away is Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. The mercurial Russian has failed to settle in the Everton first team, despite occasional flashes of brilliance. The fans are also divided on him, but whatever you think of him the fact that Moyes has never given him a sustained run in the side means we’ll never see the best of him, so there’s little point in him staying. If we can offload him back to Russia for £8-10 million, slightly less than we paid for him, it’d be considered good business.

Players In

The over riding priority for the summer is to improve the strike force. Last season Everton’s strikers scored a paltry 16 goals Premier League goals between them, 15 of which came from Saha and Beckford. With the departure of Vaughan and the likely departure of Yakubu, as well as Louis Saha’s injury record means at least two strikers will probably have to be brought in. Of all those linked the most exciting prospect is German international Miroslav Klose, but it seems his wage demandsof around £120,000 a week put him out of Everton’s reach.

West Ham striker Demba Ba is also available on a free, and has a very good goalscoring record, both in the Premier League (7 goals in 12 games), and throughout his career (a record of a goal every other game). His wage demands are also a little high, but more affordable than Klose. He has, however, suffered with injuries in the past so his fitness isn’t guaranteed. Another possible free transfer is Cardiff striker Jay Bothroyd. A journeyman throughout his career, he has finally hit his stride at Cardiff, scoring 20 goals last season and earning himself an England cap. He is a tall, strong forward, which may complement Beckford, but it is a gamble as to whether he could do it in the Premier League.

Likewise with two other targets, Craig Mackail-Smith and Shane Long. Mackail-Smith has scored at a prodigious rate for Peterborough over recent seasons, netting 34 goals in total last season, and is available for £3.5 million. Long impressed for Reading last year, scoring 25 goals in the Championship, and has attracted attention of the likes of Bayern Munich and Liverpool. Of the two, Long is the more attractive proposition, in terms of his attitude, age, and his attributes, but would cost slightly more, at £5 million. Another possibility, on loan, is Man Utd striker Danny Welbeck who scored 6 goals in 22 games on loan at Sunderland last year

Another area that needs strengthening is the left wing position, particularly if we lose Bilyaletdinov. Since Pienaar left for Spurs in January we have looked less threatening down that flank, and we need somebody who can form a strong partnership with Leighton Baines (if he stays). If you asked the fans who they’d like to sign a large percentage would love to see Landon Donovan back at the club. A huge success in his loan period back in 2010, he can operate on either flank or down the middle, and has expressed his desire to return to the club at some point. He is pacy, aggressive, and hard working; he knows and loves the club, and fits in well with the style of play. It just remains to be seen if we could do a deal with LA Galaxy for his services. Recently we have also been linked with Aston Villa winger Marc Albrighton, which would be an excellent signing. He is young, exciting and English, and can play on either flank. However he has recently signed a new 3 and a half year contract, and there is little indication Villa would be willing to part with him. West Brom’s Chris Brunt and Wolves’ Matt Jarvis have both also been linked but neither would be allowed to leave for less than £7-8 million

Coventry keeper Keiran Westwood is a possible replacement for Jan Mucha, although there is stiff competition for his signature from several Premier League clubs. Deputy to Tim Howard has been a bit of a graveyard for keepers over recent years so whether Westwood will see Goodison as his best bet remains to be seen.

Other players that have been linked with the club include Nottingham Forest midfielder Guy Moussi, Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton, Man Utd defender Wes Brown, former England midfielder Owen Hargreaves, and Blackpool midfielder David Vaughan. Moussi is an unknown quantity, while Barton brings a lot of baggage with him, and maybe more trouble than he’s worth, which is a shame as he’s a top player. Wes Brown could be an interesting signing, like Phil Neville years ago he has an undeserved reputation as a player due to the fact he’s spent his time at United and England playing alongside superior, world class defenders, but the truth is he is a very good player. Everton are pretty well covered in defence though.

If Fellaini or Rodwell leave Vaughan and Hargreaves may be options. David Vaughan had a fantastic season at Blackpool, beating Charlie Adam out to the club’s player of the season award. His reputation may not be huge but then neither would his price tag, and he’s the sort of player Moyes likes. He is also available on a free transfer so may be worth signing regardless. I’d love to see Hargreaves at the club on a pay as you play deal; he is a world class player and despite his injuries I believe he’d still have something to offer. Not all Evertonian’s agree with me on this one though.  

If Baines were to leave there are some good options at left back. Wayne Bridge may be thrown in as part of any deal with Man City, and there are few better defensive left backs around. But to truly replace Baines we’d want someone with a bit more attacking ability. Jose Enrique at Newcastle had a very good season and is strong going forward. Celtic’s Emilio Izaguirre is another in demand. He won every end of season award going in Scotland last season, and is very much in the Baines mould. Surely the best replacement though would be Arsenal’s Gael Clichy. He is available as he is out of contract at the end of next season, and he is a great all round full back. Enrique, Izaguirre and Clichy would all be available for around the £8-10 million mark.

Youth

One signing I think we should make at any cost is academy youngster Eric Dier. The England U-17 international is currently on loan from Sporting Lisbon, and he has the look of a young Rio Ferdinand about him. He is tall, composed and comfortable on the ball, and appears to read the game exceptionally well, and was part of the side that became national Academy champions. He is also very good going forward, and managed to score twice against Liverpool since his arrival in January – once for the Academy and once for the reserves. He has a big, big future ahead of him and Everton need to do all they can to get him on a permanent basis

Speaking of young players, over recent years Everton have produced a conveyer belt of them through the youth system that have either established themselves in the first team (Osman, Hibbert, Anichebe, Rodwell), or have been sold for a handsome profit (Rooney, Ball, Jeffers). This season is shaping up to be an even stronger batch than usual. This is an important season for Jose Baxter; he won Reserve Player of the Season last season and if not for his legal transgressions at the beginning of last season he might have broken through into the first team squad sooner. Another youngster who was unlucky, for different reasons, not to make the jump up last season was the highly rated Ross Barkley, who broke his leg on England duty. Expect to see more of him next year.

Recent signings Apostolos Vellios and Magaye Gueye impressed at the back end of last season, in particular Gueye, and he could provide a long term solution to left wing position. James Wallace and Shane Duffy are likely in last chance saloon to prove themselves, but there is a very talented batch of youngsters coming through from the side that won the national Academy title last year. Jake Bidwell, who can play at left back or centre back, looks a great prospect and won Academy player of the season, while Hallam Hope and John Lundstram both impressed with England U-17’s at the European Championships, although it is probably a bit early to expect too much from them this year. The main benefit for next season of such a strong youth presence is that it gives the club strength in depth, and that we can focus our money on improving the first team rather than having to bolster the squad

Ideal departures

James Vaughan – £2.5 million

Yakubu - £3 million

Joseph Yobo - £3 million

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov - £8 million

Jan Mucha – free

Total: £16.5 million

Ideal signings

Shane Long - £5 million

Demba Ba – free

Landon Donovan - £7 million

Eric Dier – unknown

Kieran Westwood – free

David Vaughan – free

Gael Clichy (if Baines leaves) - £10 million

Total - £12-22 million

X-Men: First Class & The Hangover 2

X-Men: First Class & The Hangover 2

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the latest X-Men offering. The first two are classics of the superhero genre, but the third never recovered from Vinny Jones uttering the immortal line ‘I’m the Juggernaut, bitch’. This was mainly due to the departure of Bryan Singer, and the unfortunate hiring of Brett Ratner. Luckily Ratner has also gone, and Kick Ass director Matthew Vaughn has taken the reigns, and it shows

While the storyline revolves around the Cuban missile crisis and Kevin Bacon’s manipulative bad guy, the real centre of the movie is the relationship between Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). It is genuinely touching, knowing what we know about their futures, and the performances are excellent, particularly from Fassbender. Equally touching are the struggles of the younger mutants, particularly Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and the Beast (Nicholas Hoult), to come to terms with their mutations. Keep an eye out for a very funny cameo from a familiar figure as well

The set pieces are tense and exciting, and there is a welcome return of intelligence missing from Ratner’s attempt. There are mis-steps; the pre credits sequenced is clumsy and the introduction of the CIA is not very well thought through (although it does give us Rose Byrne in stockings and suspenders, a scene I was supposed to be working on but missed L), and some of the many characters are under written. Overall, however, this is a vast improvement on the third film, and a welcome return to form for one of the best superhero franchises out there

The Hangover 2, on the other hand, is a very poor offering considering the quality of the first movie. It’s pretty much the case that if you’ve seen the first one then you’ve no need to see the second, as the only thing that has changed is the setting. Nearly every single set piece, as well as the whole structure of the film has been transferred over lock stock from the original. There is also a poorly judged joke about a smoking monkey that manages to be more disturbing than funny. There is the odd inspired moment, and the post credits photograph sequence is, as in the first film, brilliant, but this is very disappointing, and generally not very funny