DESPITE the fact that Everton excelled at the City of Manchester Stadium while championing their revolutionary forward line that contained no actual forwards, David Moyes continues to be linked with strikers galore.
The most persistent of all these rumours concerning new centre-forwards is the one that has the Everton making some sort of bid to bring Michael Owen back to Merseyside, despite the fact that his present employers, Newcastle United, are keen to keep hold of him.
Or at least Joe Kinnear is anyway, and understandably so, as Owen’s goals might just secure the potty-mouthed caretaker-manager a permanent position up at St James’ Park.
Kinnear’s situation is a lot different to David Moyes’s though – the Everton manager has one of the most secure jobs in the game at the moment – so it’s difficult to see why he would want the ex-Liverpool striker.
Granted, Owen’s goals-to-games ratio is still mightily impressive, and he showed at the weekend that he is still an excellent finisher, but his fitness combined with the sort of wages he commands make every one of those goals extremely expensive.
We’ve already taken a gamble on one talented but unreliable striker in the shape of Louis Saha, and hey presto he’s been missing when we need him most.
Owen just represents more of the same.
If we were relegation strugglers, desperate for someone to play occasionally and nick enough goals to keep us up, then perhaps he would prove value for money.
We’re meant to be building a team for the future though. One that can consistently challenge for Europe, and for that we need up and coming players who will fit in with our hard-working style.
So although Owen would cause a degree of excitement if Everton did summon up the readies to sign him, would it really send out the right sort of message about the way the team is headed?
And the same also applies to the rather startling stories linking us to the 34-year-old Gary Neville – apart from perhaps the ‘degree of excitement’ bit.
Even if the manager thinks that Owen, Neville, or any other player for that matter, would add value to the team, there is always the thorny issue of cash, and the fact that Moyes keeps telling anyone who will actually listen that he has none to spend.
Obviously he could alleviate that somewhat by letting players go, with Leighton Baines and Joleon Lescott rumoured to be targets for Newcastle and Manchester City respectively.
Lescott’s not had the best of seasons, especially by the high standards he’s set for himself, but he still has the potential to be an outstanding performer and it would be disappointing to see him leave – he’s exactly that sort of young, athletic player that we want to see the team built around as we move forward.
If City are serious though, and really offer £10million, will Everton be in any position to resist?
Baines is a different matter altogether – the ex-Wigan Athletic left-back represents one of Everton’s great modern mysteries.
It seemed as if everyone wanted him when he left the JJB, where the fans loved him, and Evertonians were pleased to be getting a player touted as the future England left-back.
For various reasons it just hasn’t worked out for him at Goodison so far though and it would surprise few people if he ended up looking for a fresh start somewhere else.
Even if that does prove the best move for all parties involved, it will still be a bit sad to see a local lad leave without ever making the impact that everyone desperately wanted him to.
