Dan's the man?
Fingers are crossed for a second signing of the summer, following hot on the heels of our capture of James Perch. The Daily Heil has reported that we're battling West Ham for the signature of former Everton midfielder Dan Gosling but are "confident" of sealing the deal having held talks on Tuesday.
Gosling is, somewhat surprisingly, a free agent after apparently reneging on a gentleman's agreement to sign a new contract at Goodison Park - a move which it seems has left David Moyes with bulgier eyes and more steam coming out of his ears than usual. Given that he's rumoured to have rejected the Toffees' offer of a £15,000-a-week deal largely on the grounds of wanting assurances about first-team football, you assume that we must have come up with something preferable.
The rather contentious and unsavoury manner of his Everton departure aside, Gosling is exactly the sort of player we should be pursuing: young, gifted, with some experience in one of the division's top teams but hungry for first-team football. If we can bag him ahead of the Hammers (and it's still an if), you have to wonder what it might mean for our pursuit of the likes of Jack Wilshere and Vladimir Weiss, both of whom are very similar players.
Gosling is, somewhat surprisingly, a free agent after apparently reneging on a gentleman's agreement to sign a new contract at Goodison Park - a move which it seems has left David Moyes with bulgier eyes and more steam coming out of his ears than usual. Given that he's rumoured to have rejected the Toffees' offer of a £15,000-a-week deal largely on the grounds of wanting assurances about first-team football, you assume that we must have come up with something preferable.
The rather contentious and unsavoury manner of his Everton departure aside, Gosling is exactly the sort of player we should be pursuing: young, gifted, with some experience in one of the division's top teams but hungry for first-team football. If we can bag him ahead of the Hammers (and it's still an if), you have to wonder what it might mean for our pursuit of the likes of Jack Wilshere and Vladimir Weiss, both of whom are very similar players.
posted by Ben at 9:12 am
3 Comments:
What a fool, he has no chance of developing.. he was at a club who reuglarly push for europe and do well bringing young talent in. Instead hes went to a club that havent got a good track record with young players.. Milner, Jenas etc and who have only just been promoted
On the contrary, I think he's got a better chance of developing if he was to join us (or West Ham). Everton have a surplus of good attacking midfielders (Cahill, Pienaar, Arteta, Bilyaletdinov, Osman, Fellaini), none of whom Gosling was likely to displace. He still wouldn't be guaranteed first-team football at St James' or Upton Park, but it would be more likely.
As for us not having "a good track record with young players", I can't dispute that we're not necessarily the best - we're no Arsenal, for instance. But the two examples you've picked are bizarrely wide of the mark.
We signed JJ as a 19-year-old from the First Division and gave him loads of game time, through which he developed into a regular England squad player. When he left, it was because we both felt it was time to move on and he was feeling stifled at the club - but not because his development was being stunted.
As for Milner, admittedly he's really blossomed since going to Villa - but, as with JJ, we similarly took a raw talent and developed him into a quality young player.
Now if you'd mentioned (say) Hugo Viana, then I could perhaps take your point more seriously...
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