BLUE WATCH: Why Everton must hold on to our best players

Jan 30 2008 by Mark O'Brien, Liverpool Daily Post

TONIGHT’S encounter at Goodison sees head to head two of the best players in the Premier League not currently employed by one of the four richest clubs.

Dimitar Berbatov and Joleon Lescott will line up against each other with plenty of covetous eyes on them, and although Evertonians will be desperate for their man to come out on top, the worry at the back of everyone’s mind is that one of the managers reportedly interested in testing Everton’s resolve at some point might be persuaded to make a bid for the ex-Wolves man sooner rather than later. Speculation has been rife about the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United wanting Lescott, and who could blame them – he’s superb. It seems unlikely that he will go anywhere this month – and likewise Berbatov – with most of the big hitters preferring to do their business in the summer whenever possible.

Players of this calibre are inevitably linked with moves to supposedly bigger and better things – that’s just a fact of life. Some in the media though can be hypocritical in their approach to these situations.

They constantly moan, for instance, about the dominance of the ‘big four’, but then only recently Alan Hansen said that he would love to see Berbatov playing for one of the best sides – all very reminiscent of what we used to hear constantly when Wayne Rooney played for Everton.

Surely the likes of Spurs and the Blues themselves would have a far better chance winning silverware and breaking the stranglehold on the Champions League places if they could hold onto these top players?