Of course, Premier League clubs are always linked with a multitude of players every summer, but mostly it’s just agents spreading rumours to up the value of their clients. Much like what my new job entails.
However, after sifting through the list of players linked to the Blues, some shit, some great, I’ve nailed down a few candidates who are more likely to come than the rest.
(It’s worth noting though that Moyesy likes to make moves at the end of the summer, so nothing is concrete)

1. It looks like Manny Fernandes is here to stay after all. After two loan spells at Goodison Park, albeit one more successful than the other, the gifted Portuguese midfielder must be looking to settle down now, and I can think of no better place than Everton for that.
In my opinion, Fernandes is a fantastically gifted player who is only let down by inconsistencies. Remind anyone of a young Mikky Arteta? Yup, I think Moyes is the perfect guy to make sure this guy fulfils his potential, so welcome on board Manuel.

2. Christian Ribeiro, the latest in a series of top-notch yong Welsh fullbacks (a la Bale and Gunter) appears to be on his way to Goodison. Not a particularly high-profile signing, but he’s good a good reputation and could eventually become a pretty good player. Won’t be world-class though, or so I’m told.
Still, not a bad signing at all, and anyway, Moyes always seems to sign one youngster from the lower leagues each year. And each year we scratch our heads and realize what a shitty signing it was. Here’s to Ribeiro, the man with the stereotypical Welsh name, proving me wrong.

3. Joao Moutinho.
I’m certainly not saying I think he’ll come, but it seems as though we’re ready to fight the big boys, with Everton ready to shell out as much as £15 million for him. Whether he’ll come to Everton or not is a different matter, but needless to say I’d be delighted with this signing. The guys obviously got as much talent in his left nut as I or Carsley (God bless him) have in our entire bodies, and would bring quality and grace to an otherwise gritty and robust midfield.
Only downside is lack of strength, and cut me up and strip me down if I’m wrong, but i feel this might work to out advantage as it would force him to be quicker on the ball and generally offload passes and crosses more quickly. On the flipside, he might just get destroyed, but hey, we’ll see.

4. A right back.
No name’s have come up yet, but it’s widely accepted we need a right-back. Tony Hibbert is defensively sound but utter shite going forward, and Phil Neville is err…Phil Neville.
This means we need an all-round, athletic and quick right back with a solid tackle and the ability to make runs and deliver crosses.
My solution? Aleksandr Anyukov. From what I’ve seen, he’s a beast in defence (the only Russian defender who looked competent against Spain) and is the archetypal wing-back in the sense that he makes strong, piercing runs, delivers decent crosses and likes to play neat, effective one twos with the other wide players. Hell, the kid can even score a few from distance.

5. A quality striker to partner the Yak.
Again, surpirsingly few names have been mentioned, although Moyes is apparently keen on buying another striker, which is understandable considering Anichebe and Vaughan are not yet first-teamers, and Johnson just isn’t good enough for a side looking to break into the top four. I’ve heard Scott McDonald being mentioned, but I don’t think that would be good for the club. He’s good, but he’s nothing special. Just like Johnson.
My suggestion? Rodrigo Palacio. Listen, I know it sounds crazy, but why the hell not? No other club seems to be moving for him, and I think Everton are good enough for him. He might struggle to adapt for a bit, but he’s a natural finisher, so he should eventually start rediscovering his Boca Junior form. Seriously though, give me one good reason why Palacio won’t come to Everton?

6. A genuine number 10.
I love soggy coco-pops at around 2 am. That is a fact.
Everton need a creative player who can win a game by himself. That is also a fact.

Yup, it’s that problem again. Everton are often perceived as a solid, efficient, hard-working team who are hard to break down. This is true, and it’s a good formula that means we can grind out results against the Wigans and Sunderland’s of the world.
However, it means that when we’re playing one of the Big Four or indeed the teams on par with us (I’m looking at Tottenham and Aston Villa. Oh, and the new Chelsea, Man City), we can often look out of ideas and about as dangerous as a whelk in the final third.
So what we need is perhaps a true number 10, a player who can win a game with a breath-taking free kick, a defence-splitting pass or an unstoppable one-man run. You could say we need a Ronaldo, or a Totti, or even an Aimar.
My humble suggestion? Andrei Arshavin, who is already on a lot of wish-lists for good reason.
OR.
Arda Turan. For those who don’t follow football outside of the Premier League, Arda Turan is a tricky left winger cum general attacking midfielder currently playing for Turkish giants Galatasray.
He’s got all the attributes to be genuinely world-class; two-footedness, fantastic ball control, vision, a wonderful array of crosses and excellent passing range. He bags shitloads of assists and is well known for loving the big games and scoring vital goals. Hence he would be a great buy, although admittedly expensive after his (so far) excellent showing at the European Championships.

Tomorrow I’ll post a much belated end of season review and ratings for the players. For now? I’m in a house with two Turkish guys so I’m gonna go and get very drunk and sing loudly. Just thought I’d be honest.

Judging from the 2-2 draw, that’s not bad at all. It also meant that Moyes didn’t record his 100th loss for Everton. Talking of career firsts, Phil Neville scored a goal that wasn’t stupid, unintentional or in the wrong net! (as per my appaling edit)
It also means that Everton have definetly recovered from their shitty patch of form. However, it would be naive to suggest that 5th place is safe. We’ve got Arsenal next, and the plucky pre-season relegation candidates beat Everton 4-1 earlier in the season. I don’t really know who Villa have next, and as I’m too lazy to check, I instead fervently pray it’s one of the other ‘big five’ (Liverpool being the other).

On a more positive note, it’s good to see that Pienaar has committed his future to the blue revolution, with the dimunitive South African playmaker having impressed me during his stay on Merseyside with his dreadlocks. Shit footballer though….
nah we love him.

It’s not relevant, but has anyone heard of Jose Baxter? He’s one of Everton’s bright young things, and has been tipped to go all they way, with club insiders rating him as better than Rooney…
The kid’s been scoring prolifically at club/international level, albeit it on a youth level. Something like 55 league goals in 40 games. Is good no?

However, this is no time for pleasantries. It’s that time of the season again- the famous last few games, when the tackles go in hard, the goals really really count, and Everton fans realize that we can’t just give the ball to Mikel Arteta and hope he does something….

Much as I love the little Spaniard, we just need more creativity in the centre of the park, a fact acknowledged by Moyesy’s decision to bring in Pienaar (fingers crossed there’s no cock-up in making Peanuts stay permanent).
Next season though, I would like to see a player of Lucho Gonzalez’ stature brought in. Or maybe me.
I’m not gonna complain just yet though, it’s only my first article…(nah, I’m just gonna do a lil’ bitching and end of season analysis here)

And am I also the only Gladys Street End faithful who feels we need a replacement for Carsley?- I’m thinking Jeremy Toulalan of Lyon.
Ambitious? Yes. Impossible? No. Who wouldn’t want to come to Liverpool, city of culture 2006? Who wouldn’t want to learn from the tenacious Irishman that is Lee Carsley? Even better, players from the French league seem available at knock-down prices, though this may have everything to do with the quality of the product, no disrespect etc. though it’s obvious I’m being disrespectful.

If I’m being really honest, I could find fault with every player in blue (apart from Lescott, possibly the best defender in the world, and Arteta- who is keeping him out of the Spanish squad!? He’s in it on Football Manager!), but so could Darlington. And Watford. And even Liverpool.
So lets quit the whining and raise a toast to Moyes, a reminder of a bygone era when men were men, and to the boys, who *touchwood* are still in fifth! Oh, and I’m forgetting the most clinical Nigerian striker since errr…well I forgot Yakubu, the big man in blue, worth every last penny.

Anyway, the first article (ya never know what to write the first time really) is out of the way, so stick around, and you just might witness the birth of the blue revolution.

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.

After a spectacular start to the season, the Toffees are looking to strengthen their squad and will hopefully wrap up the deal to bring Manuel Fernades back. There are reports out that Fernandes is in Merseyside to get a physical today. If all goes well there is a possibility that he could be part of the squad for Saturdays match against Reading.

Fernandes showed glimpses of brilliance last season and would definitely be a great addition to our midfield. For those who haven’t seen Fernandes play I have added some video highlights for you to gaze upon. That boy got skillz!

There is also some rumblings that Middlesbrough might be ready to part with striker Yakubu now that they have signed Mido from Spurs. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, but this season looks to be shaping up better than I thought.

I apologize for my absence the last week or so. There was a death in my family and things have been rather hectic. I did get a chance to watch some of the highlights of the blue merseysiders and they have help to keep my spirits up.

The Toffees opened their 07/08 campaign with a 2-1 win at home to Wigan with goals from Osman (26′) and Anichebe (75′). The man orchestrating the entire preceding was once again Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard is a man on a mission so far this season and looks to be the class of the entire premiership. I really wish they would televise more of the Toffees games so people could see just how good he really is. Anichebe seemed to give them a lift and looked good alongside AJ for once. New signings Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka both didn’t see any action with Steven Pienaar coming in for Osman in the 74′. All in all the Toffees played a decent game and deserved to win.

Today they beat a pre-season favorite to push for an UEFA League spot in Tottenham (3-1). I don’t know how good the Spurs actually are but Arteta was once again all over the pitch wreaking havoc. Lescott opened the scoring in the 4′ with a brilliant header from a bending ball from the foot of Arteta. Osman looks to be in mid-season form and scored his second goal of the season in the 37′ with a sensational volley into the back of the net. Stubbs closed the scoring in the 45′ just before the half when he deflected a ball from a free kick. The defense was once again were it needed to be and Timmy Howard is looking strong in the nets. Johnson and Anichebe look to be a nice little 1-2 punch and hopefully we can keep this momentum leading into the weekend.

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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…

“He felt his foot which is a bit of a worry,” Irvine said. “It is something that we will check out and Tim will have an X-ray this evening.

“I have just been speaking to him now and he feels a lot better.

It obviously gave him a bit of a fright about but we will just make sure he is okay. I thought he played well in the time he was on tonight.”

I looks like he’ll be alright and hopefully back in the lineup as soon as possible. As for the game that was played, the boys from Merseyside ended up with a disappointing draw. With some spotty defense and unfinished chances they managed a 2-2 finish with goals by McFadden and Anderson da Silva.

Werder Bremen do have a nice squad, so finishing in a draw is nothing to frown upon. There were some encouraging moments for the Toffees and certainly David Moyes must be happy with some of the play. Especially seeing Anderson da Silva score his first goal for the Toffees. It would be nice to see either him or McFadden step up their game this campaign.

With all the hype surrounding the much anticipated Becks debut I almost forgot that the Toffees were playing Real Salt Lake. RSL, currently last in the MLS and without Freddie Adu and Eddie Pope, somehow handed the boys from Merseyside a 2-0 loss. The scores came within a 2 minute flurry from RSL which saw Carey Talley(28′) score from a corner taken by Alecko Eskandarian and Robbie Findley(29′) bury one in the back of the net just moments later. Our best chance came when Beattie side footed a volley from in close but somehow managed to shank it. David Moyes had this to say after the game:

“The boys had a hard session as far as running about tonight. But it wasn’t a good performance. A lot of people tonight would tell you the conditions were very warm but we won’t use that as an excuse. It is part of the training and defeats will come along but we are disappointed in the nature of tonight’s game because we have been doing okay, we have been full of confidence and were brimming after last season.

“But maybe we needed that, maybe it is a wake-up call to make us realise we are all about hard work and commitment and there wasn’t enough of that tonight.”

All in all it looks like the boys in blue were outplayed by RSL and that brings me to my question. Have the Toffees hit the lowest of the low?

I don’t think they have hit the low point by any means, but losing to the worst team in the MLS is pretty bad. I’m sure jet lag and the elevation probably had something to do with their poor performance, but I think you have to have a little better showing than that. Hopefully they can get something out of the loss and build towards the upcoming campaign.

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.