Finally my call has been answered. All I wanted for the Toffees was for them to add a reasonable strike partner for AJ up front and eventually it looks to be coming true. The team website is reporting that they have agreed a Club record fee of £11.25 million to pay Middlesbrough for the services of one Yakubu Ayegbeni. The Nigerian is due in Merseyside today to undergo a physical and complete personal terms with the team. If all goes well, and it looks as if it will, Yak should be in the starting lineup Saturday against Blackburn making things all the more interesting.

With AJ and Yak upfront and Arteta and hopefully Fernandes (who is awaiting International clearance) serving them balls things look to be more on the attacking side. Defensively, we just signed German keeper, Stefan Wessels, to challenge first choice keeper Timmy Howard. I definitely think we can push for a top 4 spot this season with the new arrivals and the way we are playing. I think we were very unlucky not to have at least made it a draw against Reading this past weekend.

The Toffees are on the verge of closing the deal to bring in the talented England Under-21 defender Leighton Baines. Baines will take his physical today and work out the terms of his contract. He turned down a move to Sunderland last month and was spotted attending the match against Werder Bremen last week. Looks like we can add his name to the left back line right now.

In other news, James Beattie has signed with Division One Sheffield United for £4mil. I’m hoping that offloading Beattie will help Moyes push for another striker, but it looks like they may be going after a midfielder instead. There are reports that we have offered £10million for Porto midfielder, Luis Gonzalez. The good news is that ‘Lucho’ can play an attaching midfielder role, the bad news is that there are other clubs looking to sign him also. With the likes of Valencia and Manchester City he won’t come at a small fee. It also looks like we might be looking at Barcelona striker Santi Ezquerro.

As I doubt we would actual be looking to sign both Gonzalez and Santi, I would rather that we acquire Santi. I have seen Santi highlights (view below) and he would look rather good alongside AJ. If we can sign either one of these guys it would make me feel much better about the upcoming campaign. Especially with Vaughn and Cahill being injured. More news to come…

Reports are out that we have signed Steven Pienaar on loan from Borussia Dortmund. Pienaar, an offensive midfielder hailing from South Africa, had a horrible season last campaign but is expected to bring some life to the left side. Just two years removed from Ajax, Pienaar was supposed to be the replacement for Tomas Rosicky at Dortmund. Hyped as the new wonder kid for South Africa he showed flashes at Ajax, but that never seemed to happen last season and Pienaar failed to score a single goal in 25 appearances.

I hope this ends up being a good signing. Maybe he will revert back to how he played at Ajax.

The boys from Merseyside may be on the verge of signing former Swiss Captain, Johann Vogel. The 30 year old Vogel, an excellent defensive midfielder, played with Real Betis last campaign after coming over from AC Milan. Johann has 89 caps with Switzerland and captained the side in the 2006 World Cup. He also played in Euro 1996 and 2004. He is scheduled to be in Merseyside within the next 24 hours to hold talks with the powers that be. If all goes well he would be allow to leave Betis on a FREE transfer.

All in all I think this would be a good signing, not great. Any time you can add depth to the team along with Euro experience for UEFA Cup I think it’s a plus. It seems like we keep adding defensive minded players though and aren’t paying any attention to the attack. It would be nice for Moyes and the boys to go after one bigger named attacking player.

Everton beat N. Ireleand (2-0) in a pre-season friendly this past weekend and striker James Vaughan made the most of his 19th birthday by scoring in the 27th minute. The youngster seemed to partner very well with strikemate Andy Johnson and the two will hopefully cause havoc for the entire Premiership this season.

The other news coming out of cyber space is that the Toffees are targeting Sol Campbell from Portsmouth to possibly replace Joseph Yobo, who could be moving to Stuttgart in Germany soon. Moyes is supposedly going to offer up £1m for the former England Internationals services.

This is the best we can do? Sol Campbell? I know it would be nice to get some more defensive help but come on.

With the summer transfer market in full swing, and the Toffees not doing much David Moyes has voiced his complaints to the club website.

“I think there has been some irresponsible buying and spending by some clubs and it makes it a bit more difficult if you’ve got less money to spend than that,” he said.

“We’d like to add to the squad and I know the supporters are desperate to see new faces coming in, no more so than me, but things out there in the market are tight.

“But we are certainly doing everything we can to strengthen the squad and give ourselves a chance. We’ve done it that way for the past few years and we’ll continue to do so.”

This really isn’t what I wanted to hear from Moyes, but at least he’s saying something. With the big four spending their money and teams like Tottenham and Portsmouth both dropping big $$$ on players I feel like we aren’t doing what we need to reach a higher level or even stay at the same level for that matter. I don’t think it would take too much to stay at the same level we are at right now. If you break it down we are actual pretty solid all the way around.

We have Johnson up front who I feel is one of the better striker in the league and Vaughan and Anichebe are still young and are showing that they both have what it takes. In the middle you have Arteta, Cahill, Neville, Van der Meyde, Osman and Carsley. Arteta and Cahill are both world class and Phil Neville is our rock. With the signing of Jagielka we have cemented the back line to go along with Yobo and Lescott. Let’s not forget that we have one of the best goal keepers in the Premiership in Timmy Howard.

I still would like to see another striker to go along side Johnson up front and another solid midfield and back player also. I actually applauded Everton for not getting Nugent, I think £6 million is way too much for him right now. He hasn’t proven anything in the Premier League yet. That’s neither here nor there right now as we haven’t got anyone new up front. I guess it’s possible that Moyes could bring in both Alan Smith and Keiran Richardson, but after hearing his comments I wouldn’t hold my breath. I would be surprised if we spent any money at all for the remainder of the transfer season. Hopefully we do and hopefully Moyes is just saving the best for last!

We finally closed the deal to bring Phil Jagielka from Sheffield United to Merseyside. Just 24 hours after Sheffield lost their arbitration panel challenge to the Premier League’s decision Jagielka has signed a £4million deal with Everton. Wigan, Middlesbrough and Bolton were believed to be interested in signing Phil but Everton is the place for him. Hopefully this is just the first signing with plenty more to come. I would really like to see Everton get Nugent and Alan Smith. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

There are reports that West Ham are looking to pay big money for the services of Andrew Johnson, but the Toffees are reporting that he is not for sale. The reported offer is supposedly between £13-18 Million. Everton’s chief executive, Keith Wyness, insisted that AJ was going nowhere. Wyness had this to say,

‘We have had no contact from any club with regard to Andrew Johnson – nor would we welcome any.

‘Whilst I feel certain there will be many Premiership clubs who will covet a player of Andrew’s skills and abilities, he is an Everton player and, as he made perfectly clear on several occasions last season, he is very happy to be an Everton player.’

For now AJ remains on the roster and Everton will look to add someone, preferably a big name, up front for support. That person might just be Alan Smith from Manchester United. There are reports that Smith could come to the land of Merseyside for £4 Million. Obviously the reports are also saying that Smith wants to stay with the Red Devils and hopes to retain a spot on their roster.

Other players that Everton are looking at right now are:

Michael Kightly, a creative midfielder from the Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Pablo Ibanez, a 6′4” defender, from Atletico Madrid.

Sheffield United utility man, Phil Jagielka, maybe returning to the Toffees real soon. Jag was released by Everton when he was younger, but is ready to pick them over Aston Villa or Newcastle now. He is believed to have a release clause in his contract that would allow Everton to offer up £4m for his services. Jagielka was used as a substitute for the England B squad when they played Albania last week and seemed to impress. With Sheffield being relegated it only makes sense for Jag to move to a Premiership squad to further his professional career.

This is a solid move in my opinion because Jag can play so many different positions (right-back, center-back, midfield). He will be a welcomed asset to the team and his International experience is a added bonus.