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"If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”
What would anyone do with Mane?
The only excuse I can think of is that he is knackered both mentally and physically. He's had a poor season but he has been such a great player for the club that I'm not writing him off just yet. Give him 6 weeks off over the summer and see if we get the old Mane back. Having said that, if someone made a serious offer for him this summer it should be considered
Only players I'd be looking to move on with some urgency would be Shaq, Origi, Keita. I'm guessing Gini's contract isn't being renewed and that Ox will stay as part of our English contingent, although if we can meet that contingent and move him on I wouldn't mind at all, what's the point of him if he never plays even when fit?
a commanding CB and Fabian Ruiz would be my top targets
I remain to be convinced by Fab, I don't think he reads the game well enough, he's cost us 3 goals in the last 5 games, leaving Modric v Real, McGinn v Villa and trying to make a block and deflecting the ball into our net when Willock could otherwise only shoot straight at Big Bear, he just steams into situations seemingly entirely oblivious of where other players are on the pitch who he is leaving space for them to run into. How we play it is an absolutely vital part of any midfielders game we sign that they can read the game superbly, be an exceptional part of our press and counter press, understand when to press and when not to press and not regularly let the press get broken, and as much as so many of you love him leaving one on a player, he doesn't have those other essential qualities
"If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”
The reason I asked about him specifically (someone correct me if I am wrong here) is that unlike some of our other players, his contract expires at the end of 22/23, rather than 23/24.
If he is in decline (we don't know if he is, or if it's just a bad season, or long Covid) we don't want to extend his contract and find ourselves stuck with a player who isn't pulling their weight. He has a lot of credit in the Footballing Bank with us, but we don't want the sort of situation Arsenal find themselves in - an "Ozil" situation would be so wasteful.
Equally though we wouldn't want to let him reach a stage where he has one year on his contract - or none and the capacity to leave us for free when we could have received money for him.
So if he has 2 years left on his contract right now and is unlikely to find his value going up, cashing in and reinvesting is an option we have to give serious thought to, right?
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