Blues Brothers Everton Podcast
Blues Brothers Everton Podcast
Season Review Part 2: Who to sell, who to buy.
In this episode, we dive deep into Everton's squad performance this season, highlighting standout moments, unexpected breakthroughs, and areas that urgently need attention. We scrutinize the formidable defensive partnership of James Tarkovsky and Jarrad Branthwaite, alongside the persistent struggles at the right-back position. Our discussion also dissects the potential of Amadou Onana and whether his underwhelming performances can be blamed on his own limitations or Sean Dyche's tactical system.
We'll explore the ups and downs of individual players like Dominic Calvert-Lewin and James Garner, as well as the noteworthy improvement of Mykolenko under Dyche's guidance. Nathan Patterson's limited playtime and the utilization of Onana raise some eyebrows, but the team's overall effort, especially in light of behind-the-scenes challenges, receives well-deserved praise. On the transfer front, we evaluate potential reinforcements such as Dwight McNeil, Jack Harrison, and Ashley Young, and discuss strategies to strengthen the squad without breaking the bank.
What financial sacrifices might Everton need to make to move forward? We tackle the complex issue of potentially selling key players like Pickford, Branthwaite, Onana, and Calvert-Lewin to reinvest in the squad. With a focus on strategic decision-making and financial implications, we debate the merits of keeping or selling these assets. Finally, we assess the potential return of Jack Harrison and the critical need for squad depth, wrapping up with cautious optimism about unexpected signings that could boost Everton's prospects. Don't miss this comprehensive analysis of Everton's season and future prospects.
First of all, I would shout Calvert-Lewin, because he is.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to episode 74 of the Blues Brothers Everton podcast. This is the second of our sort of look back, look ahead season in review type episodes that we're going to do. We did one focused on Sean Dyche and his sort of performance and what we wanted to see from him. This one, we're going to look at the playing squad. So we're going to don't worry, we will going to look at the playing squad. So we're going to don't worry, we will get to the off the field stuff at some point.
Speaker 2:I know that's the thing that you're all tuning in to hear our views on, but we're going to talk about the playing squad, a little bit of looking back about who we were impressed with, who we were disappointed in, and then talking about looking at the summer transfer window, putting aside the off the field, what might happen, what our parameters might be, etc. Where do we think we need to improve? Um. So I'm in the captain's chair today. Um, austin is not able to join us, but we do have. We do have andy andy. How are you hi?
Speaker 3:ben, I'm good. Thank you, looking forward to uh getting into some good everton squad discussion. I've currently sat in uh our conservatory at home in south yorkshire looking out at a typically grey English late spring evening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't live in South Yorkshire and complain about the weather, though. That seems like you've chosen your own. You've made your own choices there, haven't you? Yep, we do have Adam with us as well. He's currently on, I think, a video call with his kids, so he will be joining us at some point, but currently his little box on the screen is empty while he chats to the girls. So he will appear at some point, but until then, andy and I are going to kick it off and get ourselves into the conversation. So I've already set the stage. Let's start with performance of the squad over last season. So, andy I'll, I was about to say I'll throw to you first. You're the only one here, so I will throw to you. Um, bereft, I am of other choices. Um, tell me, who were you impressed with, who were you maybe disappointed in? General view of the squad squad and their performance over that season.
Speaker 3:Generally, the squad did remarkably well in extremely difficult circumstances. You know, going back to some stats on the last pod about like the XG and things like that, you know the squad of players overall is quite limited, so it performed really really well. In terms of who did well going from back to front, Pickford is one that definitely did really well. He saved us several times with saves and saves he made in his overall display. One of the most frustrating things that I find in football is that this narrative that he's some sort of calamity keeper and the stats just don't back that up. Second, I was clean sheets in the league, Second only to David Rye. At Arsenal, we had, I think, the fourth best defensive record overall.
Speaker 2:And also Andy, but that's clean sheet stat. That's a lot more fucking difficult to do with Everton than it is with Arsenal.
Speaker 3:Because they've got the ball more than we have. Yeah, absolutely so. In terms of Hi Adam, by the way, for joining us, hello, hello. So in terms of hi Adam, by the way, for joining us, hello, yeah. So Pickford did well. Defence did as a whole did really well. I mean Tarkovsky and Branthwaite at centre half. I think they had 13 and 14 clean sheets respectively, something like that. Why Branthwaite's not gone to the Euros? Only Southgate can answer that question, because I'm utterly mystified by that. Sheets respectively, something like that. Why Brantwaite's not gone to the Euros? Only Southgate can answer that question, because I'm utterly mystified by that.
Speaker 3:Right back was a problem, so everybody seemed to have a poke at it. There must have been half a dozen players that played right back over the course of the season. Nobody really held down a place for various reasons of injury and form related to that, but the defence as a whole was fine. The midfield is the interesting one for me, because you look at Onana and he reminds me of a young Patrick Vieira in many ways, in that he can do so much with the ball and he's got such ability to do all different. He can pass the ball well, he can run with it. He can control it. He's got lots of different attributes to his game, but we just really haven't seen any of them in a blue shirt, and it was quite noticeable. I thought that the games where he didn't play the midfield was perfectly functional without him. So, as we'll get on to the future of the squad in the next bit of the discussion, he's possibly one player that we could arguably, um, arguably, do do without. I'm just having a quick look and let's let's just.
Speaker 2:I want to stay on that for a little bit, actually, because you touched on it from a a dice point of view and I don't want to turn this into having the same conversation about dice from a tactical point of view but like, to what extent do you think that's on Inanna not displaying or not showing off his ability, or to what extent do you think that being a product of the system and the role he's been asked to play? Because I agree with you, I think he's one of the best young midfielders in Europe. He's probably going to sign for some Champions League team this summer and we're going to watch him be incredible. So I sort of feel like we might be unfairly maligning him because he's not being given the freedom to demonstrate his obvious ability. But I'm not sure if you agree with that.
Speaker 3:No, I think if you ask me that question, is it him or is it him not performing to the best of his ability, or is it him performing to the best of his ability within the parameters he's asked to perform within? I think it's the latter. I think if he was in a bit, if he, if he was in a side that was played maybe a bit more expansively, he would be able to display his skill set that much more. So I suppose, to be totally fair, you could flip around what I've just said a couple of minutes ago and say within the boundaries within which he's been asked to operate, he's done a perfectly fine job. That doesn't alter the fact, though, that if they're the boundaries that Dyche has set, then he's arguably one player you could sell and get a good fee for, and the midfield would function perfectly well without him.
Speaker 3:I'm personally hoping that he has a really good Euros, and that happens because, loathed as I am to want to sell any Everton player, the realistic facts are that we're probably going to have to sell somebody this summer, so you obviously want to be selling the ones that you can afford to lose, um, and obviously there's there are certain players that could attract a fee. I'd want I mean fundamentally, first of all you want to keep, keep the core of the squad together. I'd certainly be looking to keep Ranthwaite, but Anana is one you could definitely look to sell, and then just a quick Go on.
Speaker 2:So no, you go, you go, and then I'll move us on to talk about transfers as well.
Speaker 3:And then just on the forward line, even though Calvert-Lewin didn't have the most productive of seasons, he's still our best forward player, so I'd definitely be looking to keep him, and I can't see anybody really coming in for him with his injury record, though I believe he's only got one year left on his contract. So Everton need to sort of you know, decide what they're doing around that, offer him a new deal or, if they're not going to offer him a new deal, then sell him.
Speaker 2:We have offered him a new deal.
Speaker 3:Oh, have we Okay not going to offer him a new deal. Well, we have offered him a new deal. Oh, have we? Ok?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've offered him a new deal. So that is a process ongoing. He hasn't signed, obviously, but Everton are very clear. They want to keep it. But I think you're right. There is a crunch coming where we have to go. Ok, you're either signing or we need to cash in now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean Beto's been a bit disappointing, so I think he's not really sort of shown as much as we all hoped. And then, conversely, chimiti actually the sort of glimpses we saw toward the end of the season were really positive. He was bright, he was alert, he was sharp, he put himself about um, so for a thing, I think he's only 19 or 20, so that bodes well for the future. So, overall, to sum up, I'd be looking to keep the core of the squad as is as much as it's possible to do. That If there was anybody that we were looking to sell, inanna would be top of that list and, conversely, I'd definitely be doing everything we can to keep Gerard Brantwaite. And I suppose one other thing about Brantwaite is the fact he's not going to the Euros means that he's going to be out of the shop window a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which may well work in our favour. That's a good point, adam, welcome. First of all, sorry for starting without you, but you did tell us to, so I'm not really that sorry. Sorry for starting without you, but you did tell us to, so I'm not really that sorry. We're doing as I said in the intro. We're just doing the squad in general, so I'll throw to you who were you impressed with, but also who were you, because we had a good season overall and we talked about it in the last part. You know we're happy with how it went, but who didn't live up to your expectations as well.
Speaker 1:I'd be interested in understanding that um, I think, in terms of players that did you know, did well, obviously, pickford being the most the standout player. I think I talked on the last part about how um everton's expected goals against was higher than our actual um, the actual number of goals that we conceded, which indicates that pickford is making saves, that he has A. He's making saves that he has no right to make. But also, teams are missing chances. But over the course of a season that sort of thing becomes a better indicator of a goalkeeper's quality as opposed to a team's missing chances against the same team over and over again. So, first and foremost, pickford's done again, been fantastic, and he's as he has been every single season he's been with us, apart from maybe the first 18 months or so. So that 18-month period he had where he was a little bit, a little bit wobbly, but um, so he's been fantastic. Obviously, brandon, way it's been, you know, really really good um.
Speaker 1:I disagree with sav gates omission of him. Um, I think, particularly with um, uh, with um you know, john stones's injury. Now I think having a left-footed centre-back is really really important, particularly important in the modern game. I sort of understand the reason why he wants Lewis Dunk to be there, because he's obviously more experienced and he's probably, overall, the better passer. But in terms of that experience, experience can be a, you know, experience can be sometimes misunderstood as a synonym for understanding and quality, and I don't think he has those. Necessarily I don't think he's a better player than Bramfoy.
Speaker 2:The dunk thing. I find the dunk thing baffling because, like we've watched Lewis dunk play for England he was shit Like. He's played like three times in the last like couple of friendlies and he's given away goals. The goal against Brazil I think was his, was his fault, like there was a goal. There was another goal against Belgium, I think he played was his fault. So I just like he's experienced.
Speaker 2:But this is why we kept Jordan Henderson around when he was fucking useless for a tournament, right like I think we played was his fault. So I just I like his experience. But this is why we kept Jordan Henderson around when he was fucking useless for a tournament, Right Like because it was like I wanted experience, Like I want good players who were going to win us games. Lewis Duncan, that like. And I don't want to turn this into like a an England conversation, but I find keeping dunk over the brand plate just baffling. Just baffling because I don't know what you're getting. That's better. Like I was reading someone I can't remember who it was but we're saying like, oh, he's probably picked dunk because he wants somebody who's strong in the air. So if you watch jared branthwaite this season, you clown, like it was yeah the, the whole thing I just find baffling.
Speaker 2:Sorry, adam, I don't want to divert us, but the the branthwaite over um dunk over branthwaite thing is one of the more baffling decisions I think Southgate's ever made, and he's made some pretty baffling ones previously.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, I think that was a testament to. It's a testament to Brant Waite's quality and he played a huge part in our being the fourth best defensive team in the league as well. So those two have been standout. I think. Calvert-lewin albeit I don't think his goals his goal return, which is three, doesn't necessarily refer, sorry, three, halfway through the season it was three, I think he ended up with what about six, I think it was. So that didn't reflect because at one point he was quite, he was officially the worst, uh, the worst um converting, strike converter in the league out of like 500 players, which shows you, on the one sense, like he can't finish his dinner, but on the other sense, you want your players getting into those positions which he obviously was um and those things don't. You know, players don't miss chances, like over and over and over again, like that he will be putting those chances away. So carver lewin was a positive and there's some others, like you know, that were, that, were, that were good. I think james garner was probably someone who went under the radar a little bit. I think he's a nice tidy player. I don't think I can really remember him having a bad game individually. Tokovsky as well, fantastic Partnered with Branthwaite. But I think Mike Kalenka was probably our most improved, I'd say, player. I think that's a really good testament to Dyche's coaching. I think, ben, obviously you talked about that in the last pod, about how much he's he's um, he's improved. So there's there's some really good performanters and I'm probably underselling some by by omitting them in this sort of. I've got, I think, a couple of players that were disappointing, obviously, but like not, and this is not, and I'll caveat this now, this is not to say that they are at fault 100% for this. I think it's a mixture of, like, you know, dyche not really wanting them. I think for me, I think Nathan Patterson's been one that's disappointing because I think there's been grounds for Dyche's omission of him, but at the same time I don't think he's been played enough.
Speaker 1:Anana obviously been talked about, I talked about him on the podcast, so I won't really go into into, you know, into um, into detail there, um, but I think for me I'm taking it in the context of our last two seasons and you know this has been our best and most comfortable season for the last three. So for me to like then pick out players that have sort of disappointed. I'm struggling beyond those two and I'll say again, I'm not necessarily being critical of those um, individuals. And just on the anana point, I think it's, I think it's, I think anana could do more. And I know our dad's you know this thing, you know definitely thinks anana could do more and wishes he would take control of games.
Speaker 1:And I do agree. I think there's been occasions when he hasn't. I just also think that he's been asked to play in a way that doesn't necessarily suit his ability, because he's our best, he's our most progressive passer and he can press well when he's asked to's asked, when he's asked to, but I just don't think he's utilized as well. So he's been obviously a bit of a disappointment. But yeah, I think for me to say like, yeah, I think me to say that I'd be picking out individuals I'm disappointed with, apart from those two, and then not and they're definitely not 100% their fault would be harsh on the squad. Because I think, given our circumstances, particularly given our circumstances and obviously, ben, you talked about this on the last podcast about Dyche being able to write three books in a single season on the absolute shit show going on behind the scenes for Everton to accumulate what ended up being 48 points with that squad has been fantastic and that's testament to Dyche and testament to the players implementing his style of play.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. And none of this is, as you say, designed to be overly critical, because I think, generally, the players did a great job. I mean, we got as many points as brighton and they sacked their manager. So, like you know, let's, um, let's, let's put it in, put it into perspective, about where, where we would have ended up had all things been been equal. I I want to talk about, I want to focus on a couple of players as we talk about transfers, because and maybe this is a controversial view, because I think, essentially and just to very quickly cover off, I think for me, I think that Michael Enko would win most improved player.
Speaker 2:I was impressed with what Dwight McNeil did. I think he should be played more in the middle, which we discussed a little bit last week. I was slightly disappointed in Jack Harrison. To be honest, I would probably still want him back in some way, shape or form, because I think he fits the system quite well, but he didn't contribute as much in terms of assists and goals as I necessarily thought he would when we signed him. Ashley Young was another one who I have the great respect for, but I think his legs have just gone and I just don't think he's able to operate at the level that he needs to operate to be a Premier League player. So am I happy to have him back in terms of like, hey, you can cover a couple of spots then fine, but I certainly don't want a situation where I'm having to watch him start at right back regularly next season so and we can come on to have potential salts for that. But I want to talk about, because you know, staying away from the off the field stuff.
Speaker 2:I think it's fairly clear that we will be. There will be some sale of players in order to take some profits, in order to reinvest whether that's to reinvest because we obviously need to build the squad, or whether that's because we need to hit PSR regulations or whatever. I think the expectation is that there will be some movement of players. I think, essentially, we basically have four saleable assets that we could you could get a reasonable return from, and I think actually they run all the way through the spine of the team. I think you've got Pickford, you've got Brantwaite, you've got Anana and then you've got Calvert-Lewin Let me frame it this way and, adam, I'll come to you. First, you've got to. Let's play shag. Marry, push off a cliff. Right, you've got to. You don't have to shag any of them, don't worry. You've got to keep two, you've got to sell two, you're on, you're on mute apologies.
Speaker 1:First of all, I would shag Calvert-Lewin because he is um, dom, if you're listening the offer's open um
Speaker 2:but sorry, I the episode. It's just gone. Gone all to hell now, because everything, everything is now going to be overwritten by the fact that Adam would shag Dominic Calvert-Lewin carry on.
Speaker 1:I mean for the listeners.
Speaker 2:I'm straight, just for context, but just a testament to my point even you, a straight man, would be willing to have sex with dominic albert lillian, such are you overawed by beauty. Anyway, let's get back on topic quickly yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's a really, that's a really good way of putting it. I think if I because you've got to take it in the context of like of um can you? You can ask bigger questions, like can you trust kevin thalwell to get the get the strategy right? And I think that's the first question that you would need to ask, because that would impact on what you would, who you would sell, I think, because if you're saying that you don't trust him as much to get it right, would you want to take away a fundamental basis of? Do you want to take away a fundamental basis of of the style of play that we have and what I'm building on, our foundations, which are our defense, and do you not trust him? Then I think you keep ranthaway and pickford based on that um, because the stats show that that has been our strength this season.
Speaker 1:It's been the basis of our staying up, um, so, um, if you do have the trust of felwell and you think that you can trust him to make, to replace him adequately, and with that comes a much, much larger amount of money, of course you would sell before you'd look at selling branthwaite, because if you look at like, if you sell anana, which would be the person I'd sell in the first scenario, then obviously we paid. What was it? What do we pay? 30, 35 million for him we, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:There's also some like I think some of that is like additions and sell-on fees and that sort of, but I think, yes, the total package is basically somewhere around that, but I don't think we've actually handed that much money over, yeah, as of yet yeah.
Speaker 1:So we've got like so he's been here for what two? He's been here two seasons now, hasn't he? So yeah, I say four-year contract. Let's argument say, say we paid 20 million up, 25 million up front. So you know, you're looking at 7 million, roughly just just shy of 7 million per season. We've paid 40 million of it off. So you've got 40 million left to pay. You could probably get. You could probably then get, I think we'd be looking for anything between 50 and 60 million for him.
Speaker 1:I think would be a reasonable amount of money. So you're looking at a profit there. You look at a profit there of, like you know, on the face of it, on the face value of it, if nearly 100% based on what we paid. So that would give us, you know, that would give us what you know, 20, 30 million to play with. And obviously we've got black holes and we've got holes in our, in our finances where you know, if there was said that we need to sell, so we're likely to sell someone, so how much of that would get reinvested? Is, you know, is then quite? Is then question, is is questionable, and then you'd be looking at you know, how do we reinvest that? I think it'd be good to talk about, like you know, either either individual players or where we can look, what markets we can look at in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we will do that. I just want to just in in the spirit of of getting us there, because I know we're also dear listener. We are tight on, tight on time today, unfortunately, so it's like a tailed episode. Did anyone disagree that anana would be the first person that you would sell? Because he would be the first person I would sell for the reasons I themselves. Right, cool, let's. Let's park anana then, because I think it's actually a more interesting discussion, and, andy, I'll come to you. We've now, we've all agreed we're selling anana. You now have to sell one of pickford, branthwaite, calvert, lewin. Who are you? Who are you selling?
Speaker 3:definitely not selling jared branthwaite for Calvert-Lewin. Who are you selling?
Speaker 2:I'm definitely not selling Jared Brantwaite, for reasons that I've already said Now just to open up, even if you could get, just to play devil's advocate, even if someone comes in and offers you a world record transfer fee for a defender it's Harry Maguire £85-90 million money.
Speaker 3:If somebody comes in and offers that amount of money, then I I I quick decision. Everybody has got a value, you know, despite saying you're not going to sell him. If somebody did come in and offer that amount of money, then I probably would sell him for that amount of money, but I don't think somebody would no, I agree, I don't think anyone is, especially if he isn't going to the euros.
Speaker 2:But I'm just trying to understand, like, where your threshold is of where you sell them.
Speaker 3:So yeah, carry on. Yeah, if my threshold was that high then I would sell him, but I don't think anybody's going to offer that amount of money. Now, just, pickford's a bit of an interesting one, because I opened the pod by saying how many points he's saved us and how many saves he's made, and we've discussed his level of performance many times on previous pods, but the games that Jal Virginia played for us this season I think he only played maybe a handful of games in the League Cup, but he did enough there to demonstrate to me that he's actually quite a decent backup. So again, if somebody came in and offered I don't know £60 million for Jordan Pickford, then the club would have to ask itself well, could we sell Pickford, promote Virginia to number one and then get somebody as backup? And financially that would obviously make a lot of sense. And therefore, losing what is currently your number one goalkeeper might not have the negative impact that you might initially think it'd have.
Speaker 3:Um, now, do I think somebody's going to offer that much for fitford? No, I don't, and he's in contract till 2027, I think. So, um, he's probably not going to go anywhere. I'd still keep calvert lewin because I think I think I've already said not don't want to sell Branthwaite. I think if it's a toss-up between Pickford and Calvert-Lewin, with the players we've got now, replacing Pickford with Virginia and getting a backup goalkeeper in is easier than selling Calvert-Lewin and trying to get a replacement forward in at Lewin and trying to get a replacement forward in.
Speaker 2:And this is interesting, right, because it's good to have these conversations, because I come down on entirely the opposite side of that argument and I'll explain why, and I think it's a perfectly valid argument.
Speaker 2:If you think that you have a goalkeeper inside the club who can step up and you don't have to replace him, I get that. I think if you were to go, if you just take the squad as it was last year and you go, would you rather lose Jordan Pickford for the season through injury and have Jalvijinja play the whole season, or would you rather lose Dominic Calvert-Lewin and have to play Beto? I'd much rather lose Dominic Calvert-Lewin and play Beto, because I think, look and this is touching on the tactic stuff we talked about last week Sean Dyche's way of scoring goals and way of playing isn't built around having like a superstar player or a, you know, a player who does everything or is transformative to the team. It's built around having players who understand their role, do their jobs and therefore put themselves in situations where they can score goals. And Beto didn't have the easiest like entry into English football, like you've got to remember he's you know, he was working in KFC not that long ago, right, he obviously loves the club, he obviously is keen and I think there's a lot of ability there.
Speaker 2:Big adjustment coming to the Premier League. We all remember I mean, look, big adjustment coming to the Premier League. We all remember we talked about Michael Enko earlier. He didn't look anywhere near the player he does now. In the first six months If you think all the way back to Fellaini we thought we bought George Ware's cousin for the first three or four months because all he seemed to do was elbow people and get booked that appeared to be the total range of his ability and then obviously transformed into one of the best midfielders that we've, I think, certainly in my life we've ever had when he was, when he was on his game. So I for me, I think he's selling on because I think he doesn't fit the system. He has the resale value and there's interest in him and, to your point earlier, andy, I think he's the easiest one to take out and go. Hey, nothing changes here. Like the system still works with players we have, with some additions, are can fill that void.
Speaker 2:But I think the second person on that list is dominic calvert-lewin, like I think, and I don't think he's sealing in terms of. Well, actually, no, I was about to say sealing in terms of finances isn't as high, but I actually think it might be because goalkeepers are undervalued. Right, because you're right, we're not going to get 60 million through Jordan Pickford. You might get 30, 35, because unless you're selling him to Chelsea, who pay absurd fees for goalkeepers on a regular basis, people don't pay huge amounts of money for goalkeepers because they see them, as you know, less valuable positionally. So what? You're getting 30, 35, maybe 40 at a push.
Speaker 2:I reckon you could get 25, 30 for dominic calvert-lewin and I think losing dominic calvert-lewin is less damaging to us, to Adam's point earlier, than losing Jordan Pickford, because our strength was the defence last season. Right, that was what the solidity and the foundation was. So if I'm picking two of them, I'm selling Inanna and I'm selling Dominic Calvert-Lewin because I think Beto second season is a perfectly viable replacement for Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the way that we want to play Like, do I think his ceiling is as high? No, but do I think with a good season he can get you the eight to ten goals? I mean Calvert-Lewin got seven this year and we know we miss lots of chances and stuff. But I think the I think the squad ends up in a better place if you sell Dominic Calvert-Lewin versus selling Jordan Pickford, because I think we and there is a danger as well that we underestimate the difference between having a world-class goalkeeper and just a good goalkeeper. Like we would have gone down two of the last three seasons were it not for Jordan Pickford Possibly three of the last three seasons I probably think we would have been safe this year, just gone. But I think there is a danger of going like we have one of the best goalkeepers in the world and I think you let go of that.
Speaker 2:Very, you have to be really careful before you say, actually we think this guy is replaceable, so yeah, I would keep. I think you keep brand-play unless you get a mega-money offer. To be really careful before you say, actually we think this guy is replaceable, um, so yeah, I would keep. I think you keep brand waiting when you get, unless you get a mega money offer. Because the other thing as well that plays into this is that I don't pretend to know how psr works at all. I don't think any of us do. I don't think the premier league does necessarily. But dominic calvert lewin was a. We bought him for what? 1.5 million pounds from sheffield united way back in the day, so he's almost pure profit. Um, in that sense, as is branthwaite, it's pure profit, so that might. That may play into it as well, but I don't know how that works with pickford because we bought him for so much money but so long ago. I don't know how that's held on our books now, um as in terms of the investment.
Speaker 1:So yeah, oh, I imagine on that point, I imagine pickford is basically because we signed him in 2017 and he's obviously signed his.
Speaker 1:This is his third contract still, so he's just recently signed, so I think you could treat him as sort of I mean, we're pure profit yeah, it is yeah in terms of, like his um, uh, he, what we, what he will have and what Brantley and Calvert-Lewin will have, which is sell-on clauses to Sunderland, carlisle and Sheffield United respectively. So you've got to factor that in as well. But yeah, I think accumulatively Brantley gives us the most money. That's fair to say.
Speaker 2:Yeah if it's a purely financial decision, if you're selling branthwaite right because you're going to have bought someone for what? A million pounds and sell him for 75 million pounds, like that, that is a that is the best financial outcome. But the best footballing outcome, I think is, is you want to keep branthwaite for as long as possible? Um, we've got about 15 minutes left, so I want to keep Rathwaite for as long as possible. We've got about 15 minutes left, so I want to transition us into talking about the transfer window and who we want to see come in. And that can be.
Speaker 2:You know, I play a lot of football manager, but I'm currently in the Swedish league, so my knowledge of players that might be attractive to Everton in 2024 is relatively limited, because I'm in 2028 in Sweden. So, adam, whether it's a particular player or a particular position, where do you think we need to strengthen? Who would you like to see come in? Who have we been linked with potentially that you would view as a good option? And then, andy, I'll come to you on the same question.
Speaker 1:I think it'll all obviously depend on the same question. I think, um, it'll all obviously depend on who we end up selling. So let's go for, let's go for the reasonable, let's go that we sell anana um as a, because I think, you, it needs to be always caveated with who we're going to sell um. But what I would like in general to them some last podcast. I would like in general and to the last podcast I would like to see more sort of creativity, because the stats all demonstrate that we lacked control over games. There's a good graphic I was reading on a website called the Analysis a couple of days ago and it showed it basically does like a, basically a general heat map of your control of the pitch where you have more than 55 percent of the ball, um, obviously, manchester cities is pretty much all all blue apart from, like, the opposition's penalty area, um, and everton's is, um, pretty much the opposite. So what that? So what that? So what that is demonstrating is that and that's not necessarily a bad thing, because we're not a possession-based team, but what it does demonstrate is that we are happy to sort of for the teams to have the ball and either, you know, hit them on the counter-attack, which is not really something that we try and do. We try and win it high and then look for set pieces. So that's our style of play. So it will be nice to sort of see some more creativity because, particularly after we've lost Andre Gomez, who was probably our best, our most creative player overall, our most creative midfielder if you take McNeil out the equation in terms of his set-piece delivery I think Gomez's ability to create chances from open play, in my opinion, was the best out of any of our midfielders. So I think it's important that we sort of I would like us to look for a more ball-playing player.
Speaker 1:Now I'm not sure who that's, I'm not sure, like individuals, who's that's going to be. I think I've said this point in the past where, unfortunately, the championship, I don't think, is necessarily the market. That you can. You can look as much to as much and you can get, you know, real gems if you look carefully, but you have to pay for them, like adam wharton obviously went to Blackburn, to Palace and is now in the England squad for the Euros. So they are there. But you sort of have to be smart and you have to pay more money relative to what we did in the Jagielka, lescott, tim Cahill days. So, yeah, I think defensively, know, defensively, I've got no issues. I've got no issues at all.
Speaker 1:I would like to see Patterson be worked on over the summer in terms of to be coached in the same way Michael Lenko was, obviously. He made that point well last week, ben. I think that would be something I'd like to see. Yeah, I think the centre of the park would be good for me, because I think you know you keep Calvert-Lewin, he will score goals. I don't think we need a goal scorer. He's kept himself fit.
Speaker 1:I think the idea of Beto being it's nice to have that competition and it's reassuring to have that competition for those times when Calvert-Lewin's tweaked something, you've got someone who can come in who isn't Neil Morpay. Calvert lewin's tweak something, you've got someone who can come in, um, who isn't neil more pay. Um, and you know, 90 of my criticism for neil more pay is direct, is is put squarely at kevin feltwell, because I think he was an absolutely astounding, astoundingly bad decision to try and think that neil more pay can play in the same way that dominic calvert-Lewin can. It's just absolutely mind-boggling. Anyway, yeah, and I think we're obviously looking at a deal for Jack Harrison which indicates we're sort of looking for, you know, a player who can play out wide, who's, you know, tricky and can create things. Obviously he got like four assists last season and had some reason, decent chance creation from open play as well.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah, center of the park would be, would be for me, but, um, I wouldn't be able to um reel off any any um any names, I'm afraid no, and I and to be like I don't know I've got no idea about who these targets might be, and actually I sort of feel like we shouldn't know, because if we're doing this properly, it should be players that you know we haven't necessarily have great awareness of, because that suggests we're scouting in places that aren't, because we could all name the Premier League midfielders who might fit our system. But I sort of hope that Kevin Thelwell was mining slightly deeper than that, because who'd have I mean, adam, you're going to say that you had, but who'd have heard of Vitaly Mikhalenko and Amadou Inanna and Beto before we signed them right? And so that's the other element of not focusing too much on players. I think all of those are correct. I would want to see us.
Speaker 2:We definitely need to add to the midfield. I think we've got the talent in the squad at right back. I don't think we need to sign one, but I really think he needs to decide whether he can do to Nathan Passon what he did with Mikalenko, and then, if he can't, we may need to buy one there, and then we are woefully short of pace out in the attacking position. So, whatever we do, I think you have to be adding players who have a degree of pace, the one player I would put a not insignificant amount of money on. Having said that, I don't really know players. It would astonish me if we didn't sign Josh Brownhill, who is the Burnley captain, who is out of contract and played for Dyche for a number of years when he was at Burnley, and so a free transfer from Burnley, who's familiar with the system, just makes too much sense not to happen. So if I was placing my chip on an individual player, it would be Josh Brownhill. Andy, where do you think we need to strengthen? Who do we need to target?
Speaker 3:Well, like you, I couldn't say many names that could sort of fit particular positions. I've got quite a few thoughts on right back, because I do think that's more of a slightly problem position than maybe you you believe it is. I agree, this is the summer where he needs to. The club needs to decide whether Patterson is capable of playing right back in that system going forward and he's the number one right back. Or if he isn't, then quite frankly, quite he could be on the to-sell list and get somebody else in. Because if you look at the players who've played right back so far this season, obviously Patterson did Coleman Garner, Ashley Young, Ben Godfrey so to have that number of players in that one position, it's clearly a problem. So yeah, a decision has to be made. I mean because we've often mused on this pod throughout the season why Dyche wasn't playing Patterson, even when he was fifth. The number of times he was on the bench was quite high. So, for whatever reason, does he not fancy him? For some reason Does he not think he can play in the system? Is he not capable of doing what Dyche wants him to do? So a decision has to be made there Either work with Patterson, like he's worked with Mikulenko, or if he doesn't want to do that or thinks that Patterson isn't capable of doing that, then I'd add him to the list of people who you would shag, marry or push off a cliff, sell and get somebody else in.
Speaker 3:Secondly, I agree 100% with the previous comments about having some more creativity in midfield, Because even if an Arnold doesn't go, you're still going to need some more creativity and some more pace in there. And then let's be realistic, Beyond that, there's arguably not a huge amount that we're going to be in a position to do. Obviously, we're going to talk off the field stuff, possibly in the next pod, so much of what we may do between now and the start of next season is going to be dependent on that. But as we sit here now the squad we're not going to be capable of spending huge amounts of money on the squad, Because even if we sell Inana for a large amount of money, a chunk of that you'd imagine might go towards complying with the next set of PSR rules. So, being realistic, for me there's two positions creativity midfield and potentially a right back if Dyche decides that he can't make patterns, and the right back that he wants him to be.
Speaker 2:Do you think we should? I think we're all like Dan Juma didn't work out, so I don't think there's any prospect of that. Like, we've touched on Jack Harrison a little bit but, andrew, would you want to see Jack Harrison back? Would you want to do that on a loan, a permanent transfer? Like obviously Leeds didn't get promoted, which I think was helpful to that, because it means that if he wants to play Premier League football, they're not going to want him back in that sense, and there might be a financial incentive for them to get rid.
Speaker 3:But yeah, let me know what you think about that, yeah, I thought Harrison did enough this season to warrant at least exploring the possibility of a permanent transfer. I mean, I'd read various bits about Leeds failing to get promoted as apparently being not great at all for their finances. They sort of budgeted on getting promoted and that's clearly not happened. So I've no idea if they need to sell players or not, I don't know, but you'd imagine that them not getting promoted means that there's more likelihood that players will want to leave disappointed. If we, if we explored the possibility of signing Jack Harrison on a permanent transfer whether he offers enough creativity to fulfill the midfield role I've just outlined for me needs filling possibly, possibly not. You might sign him as a sort of good squad player and then you might need some more creativity on top. But I wouldn't.
Speaker 2:I'd certainly be looking to get Harrison back in one form or another yeah, I agree with that because I think squad player is exactly the phrase that I was thinking of in that sense because if you look at you know I saw a thing on on Twitter the other day which was basically looking at our squad now that the loans have gone and people out of contract have left. It is incredibly threadbare. Good backup up front centre-backs are okay. Quality you can question a little bit. We basically have one left-back and then Ashley Young if he signs. We have one right-back and then Seamus Coleman slash Ashley Young if they sign.
Speaker 2:Centre midfield we have four now that Garner's signed on, basically and Gomez is gone. So not a huge amount of depth there. But our wingers we basically have Dwight McNeil and Lewis Dobbin, because we had Dan Juma and Harris. For the way Dyche wants to play, we need two or three players who can function in those positions. So I think if you can get harrison back on a finance, on a deal that works financially, I think you almost have to, because you're only going to be going and getting somebody else to be a squad player in that position.
Speaker 2:So if you're going to get somebody else, why wouldn't you get jack harrison? In addition, because he can play on both sides. We know if it's the system, we know he, we know he likes him, like, so I would, I would. I'm all in favor of a deal for for jack harrison.
Speaker 1:Um that works financially for for everton yeah, I think that's, yeah, I think that's, um, that's sensible, yeah, so it's sort of a bit scary when you put it, when you put it like in terms of the squad yeah well, I, I hadn't even. It's sort of a bit scary when you put it like that in terms of the squad.
Speaker 2:I hadn't even appreciated it until I saw this and then you realise that, yeah, harrison was on loan, dan Juma was on loan, and then we had McNeil and Dobbin and we were actually incredibly lucky that we got through the season and didn't really have any significant injury problems.
Speaker 2:I know we talked about Calvert, calvert low in missing a couple of games or whatever, but generally we were able to roll out the same side on a fairly regular basis and when players miss games, it was one or two games. We didn't have any like, hey, this person's out for three months because and if we had, especially in those areas, we would have been in a lot of trouble because we just have no depth and that is a, you know, a story of chronic years of mismanagement which we will get into when we're talking about the off the field stuff. But yeah, we are a squad in need of, like, free, cheap, available players which are not easy to come by. Yeah, and with that, any more for any more, anything we want to um, we've got 60 seconds anything anyone wants to bring up I'm, I'm quite excited, you know, like remember when we like signed phil neville and it just came out of the blue.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm just, I can just see that happening and it's quite, it's like. It's like almost like quite reassuring or comforting because we've got no money. We'll sign, we'll sign, we'll sign, we will sign some players, I imagine, who the fuck knows who they're gonna be. It's quite good, it's nice yeah no it is. It's being linked with every number 10 in the under the sun in summer of 2007 yeah, we are.
Speaker 2:We are essentially those people who, who had a, a perfectly nice, comfortable house, won the lottery, didn't know what the fuck to do, so end up moving back into their own original house with their slightly shitty sofa, but that's, that's really comfortable. And and then they're like, oh, this is actually what I wanted all along, like we are actually better when we don't have any money. It's a more comforting place, it's like a nice hug, like, oh, we're shit and don't have any money. This feels like home. Um, that's, uh, that's that's.
Speaker 1:That's how old beams and terrestrial telling yeah yeah, exactly like we're.
Speaker 2:Just we're partying like it's 1995 around here, um, so, yeah, uh, we're gonna wrap up there, um, slightly shorter episode today. But, uh, thank you guys for joining um and thank you to our listeners for uh, listening. We've put, we'll put this one out and then we're going to do one more on the off the season. Um, we're trying to leave that one as long as possible in case there is a resolution that for us to talk about. But we may just have to bite the bullet and talk about all of the rumours. But keep an eye out on your podcast feeds for that. Like, subscribe, share with your Everton fans, everton friends, so we can grow our listener base and we will see you again soon. Thank you very much you.