Everton set to smash club transfer record for Standard Liege midfielder Marouane Fellaini
EVERTON are attempting to beat the deadline and make Marouane Fellaini their club record signing.
After a day of intense negotiations with Standard Liege - the side whom they will face in the UEFA Cup later this month - Everton officials have been trying to thrash out a deal that would shatter the fee they paid for Ayegbeni Yakubu to land the imposing Fellaini.
The powerful 20-year-old starred for Liege in their Champions League qualifiers with Liverpool and, provided all goes to plan, he will fill the hole that was vacated when Lee Carsley moved to Birmingham City in May.
Fellaini is the son of Moroccan parents but was born in the Belgian town of Etterbeek and joined Anderlecht's Academy when he was seven.
He also had spells with, among others, Mons and FC Charleroi, but signed his first professional contract Liege three years ago and made his debut in a Champions League qualifier against Steaua Bucharest.
Fellaini has since gone on to make 79 appearances for Liege - whom he helped win their domestic title last season - and has also been capped 10 times by Belgium, scoring one goal.
That deal would be the highlight of a frantic day for David Moyes and Bill Kenwright which saw a bid for Reading's Stephen Hunt rebuffed, a work permit application for Victor Obanni be rejected and Louis Saha officially become Everton's new number nine.
Everton - who, contrary to some reports, were never in the running to sign Newcastle United's Joey Barton - also brought in Wigan goalkeeper Carlo Nash for a nominal fee to provide cover for Tim Howard and considered resurrecting a moves for Alan Smith.
Nash, a 34-year-old with vast experience, was thrilled to move from the JJB Stadium and said: "I've known of Everton's interest for the last couple of weeks and there have been a few sleepless nights hoping it would go through. Finally it has and I am over the moon."
Deadline started with Goodison officials clinging to some hope that they would be able to prise Joao Moutinho away from Sporting Lisbon but that deal ended when the Portugal international was named in his side squad for the game against Sporting Braga.
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Please let this be true (although does seem a lot of money!) I don't want to have waited up until this time to learn that we have only signed Nash from Wigan (Everton fan that he is).
Looked a very decent player against Liverpool but even if this were to come off there can be no escaping what an utter shambles this transfer window has been.
The pursuit of Joao Moutinho has been yet another disappointment for the fans to endure. Kenwright never, ever learns to keep his mouth shut until the business has been concluded and once again this saga has left him found wanting.
Poor showing from both David Moyes and Bill Kenwright.
The average age of player coming to Everton is above 30. Is this the way to build a future for Everton?
Most of the players coming into the club this season is 29 years old and above. Is this the way to build a club for the future?
As history has shown the last time when Everton has struggled to bring in players, they were also struggling to stay in Premiership.
This whole sorry saga has been an absolute
DISGRACE!!!
Watch this space!!!
Just do us a favour and disapear please Bill... enough is enough.
Can we now get on with training hard and playing some football, glad all the transfer B.S is done with, points is what we need now to move forward for 2009.
Good luck the Blues
I am surprised to see our time wasted on prospects who are priced too high or never wanted to come over rather than on proven ones who wanted to move on. To name a few: Deco went to Chelsea for only 8.5M and Cisse went to Sunderland. Finnan from Liverpool eventually went to Spain. We gotta be realistic when chasing prospects. Is Everton that unattractive to players even we have UEFA cup games to offer? Pennant of Liverpool is pacey but we never approached. He could be some solid winger to have on our lack of pace squad. Moyes, please use the January window wisely and look for those who can come in without wasting your time and frustrating yourself and fans.
Bill Kenwright has served his purpose and will never take Everton to where they belong. Despite good intentions he has failed to build on last season's hard work. Most worrying though is that I can't believe him anymore. How many empty promises can you make before you lose all credibility? Go blues, keep battling hard.
i agree with cason... everton have spent the whole summer chasing unrealistic targets like Moutinho (why would a 21 year-old champions league club captain who plays for his country join us? why would Lisbon sell him?)when we should have been scouring the championship, premier league and smaller clubs in the top leagues for targets and, crucially, signed them before preseason started. Moyes had built this club on his own ability to improve players with potential - lescott, jags, cahill, carsley etc, so why suddenly change transfer policy now?
Looks like Keegan has left Newcastle and they're bound to come looking for Moyes who is clearly not very happy at the moment. Whether the signing of Fellaini will placate him remains to be seen but does could he be tempted by the skunks?
Looks like Keegan has left Newcastle and they're bound to come looking for Moyes who is clearly not very happy at the moment. Whether the signing of Fellaini will placate him remains to be seen but could he be tempted by the skunks?