After last night’s narrow win over Newcastle United we take a look again at the latest rumours of possible Everton signings and some other related news.
Everton are being linked with a host of players at the moment although very few of these moves seem likely to happen. According to the Daily Star, one of the latest rumours concerns an Iranian striker the Blues are supposed to be interested in.
The player concerned is called Sardar Azmoun who currently plays for the Russian side Rubin Kazan.
A 23-year-old, he is very highly rated (when aren’t they!) and he has scored prolifically for Iran; in 31 games for his country he has netted 23 times.
The Daily Star are also suggesting that several other clubs are interested in Azmoun including Celtic and newly promoted Wolves.
Moving on and following the surprise announcement that he is leaving Arsenal at the end of the season, there are again rumours in the same paper that Everton are keen to bring Arsene Wenger to Goodison Park.
This is one we’ve heard before. Apparently Wenger would be joined as his new number 2 by Oleg Luzhny, a former player under the Frenchman at Arsenal.
If this were to happen, (a big if), I’m not really sure if this would make sense for Everton.
Wenger has had a profound influence on the English game and deserves to be applauded for all he has achieved.
In his first seasons at Arsenal his teams set great standards of football excellence, winning three league titles and going unbeaten in 2003-04.
But as everyone knows the last few years have been disappointing by those very high standards, although Arsenal almost always seem to hand Everton a comprehensive beating each season!
Arsenal have won three FA Cups in the past four seasons but the team missed out on the Champions League last term and unless they win the Europa League this season, will miss out on the holy grail of European football again next time.
Along with the lack of a serious title challenge for a number of seasons, there is a sense that perhaps the game has passed Wenger by a bit.
Having said all that I’m sure most Evertonians would settle for three FA Cups in four seasons, it’s not a bad trophy haul!
Wenger’s sides play measured passing football that is pleasing on the eye and can still be very effective, especially at home against weaker opposition.
But the defensive frailties in the team are constantly exposed by better sides and there is a definite feeling that Arsenal lack characters and leaders on the pitch, something they always had before.
That’s something Everton have also lacked I feel this season.
One thing Wenger does though have in his favour is that he is experienced guiding a team through the transition from a traditional and long-standing home ground to a new stadium.
More from Prince Rupert's Tower
- Everton 0 Arsenal 1: Blues fall to third home defeat
- Further chaos in Everton takeover as other lenders not keen on 777 Partners
- Everton need repeat of Arsenal win to kick-start their season on Sunday
- More madness at Everton as Moshiri now agrees to sell club to 777 Partners
- Everton takeover talk cools after UK govt doubts and further questions
Anyway leaving all this aside the club model I feel Everton should be seeking to replicate, as I’ve said before, is the Gunners north London rivals Tottenham.
Spurs made lots of expensive signings and were constantly replacing managers without seeing much return (sounds familiar), and so it seems Chairman Daniel Levy decided on a new strategy.
Get the brightest young manager around with a talent for nurturing and developing young players and build a team for the long-term to coincide with the move to a new multi-million pound stadium.
So far Spurs have generally got it right, although they do seem to have a knack of falling just short with success in reach. Some Tottenham fans might say that nothing has changed there!
It will be interesting to see if this approach does yield success for Spurs or if the team breaks up in a few seasons time because of a lack of trophies.
At any rate I feel this is the only realistic model Everton have to follow as they are never going to compete with the higher-profile clubs for top established talent, even if money were no object.
Next: Everton v Newcastle match report
Of course the key to such a strategy is identifying and successfully recruiting that talented and ambitious young manager. Can the Blues hierarchy do that…?