The NSNO Everton Forums

MIG wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 9:54 am I’d rather tempt him to stay. That’s the difference.
You don’t think he’s performed well enough for a pay rise?

Absolutely but with that comes commitment. Commitment isnt a clause saying you can leave whenever you want for your current value. Even beyond the wages thats a much worse deal for the club than hes on now

AjaxAndy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 10:03 am I'm torn on this tbh.

We bought him for a low price, and if we sell for say £55m then that's exactly the type of business strategy we should be regularly aiming for.

You then take £25m of that and spend it on George who is younger, potentially has a higher ceiling and adds the pace that we lack.

That leaves £30m left over to buy an RB, LB, or a more reliable striker.

That's not taking in to account how CSR works with regards income Vs out goings over contract lengths, which makes selling and reinvesting even more powerful.

The obvious preference is to retain your best players and add other equally good players to compliment them. However that's not how football works these days, unless you buy and sell well then making any significant progress is at best hard, at worst neigh on impossible.

But also I don't want us to sell him as he's fun to watch.

Ive no problem with selling him or giving him a payrise. You dont hand him a payrise and the ability to leave for his currently value though

Whats in it for us to treble his wages and give him a 50-60m release fee. We dont benefit in any way.

777Kidnappings wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 10:12 am Ive no problem with selling him or giving him a payrise. You dont hand him a payrise and the ability to leave for his currently value though

Whats in it for us to treble his wages and give him a 50-60m release fee. We dont benefit in any way.

A release clause should always be higher than the player's actual value. There's no benefit to the current club setting a release clause that's definitely going to be activated and leave you no room to negotiate.

Imo his release should be around £65m, and then we can talk a team low balling us at around £40m up to somewhere around his true market value for circa £55m.

We are trying to make him the highest paid player at the club, and he is saying - thanks but no thanks, unless you let me leave at a price we’d probably say was us getting our kecks pulled down.

Edit: and would also be a guarantee that he goes immediately as that clause would get snapped up.

Make of it what you will but the message is fairly clear as far as I can see.

brap2 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 10:46 am We are trying to make him the highest paid player at the club, and he is saying - thanks but no thanks, unless you let me leave at a price we’d probably say was us getting our kecks pulled down.

Edit: and would also be a guarantee that he goes immediately as that clause would get snapped up.

Make of it what you will but the message is fairly clear as far as I can see.

Id be saying 75m plus release clause or you can stay on what youre on.

We can sell him for 50 or 60m today the difference is now we dont have to, hes cheap wages and we could get even more if he kicks on. We'd give up all 3 of them things for what?? A longer contract doesnt benefit us if it comes with a low release clause.

If there's an offer between 50-60 mil then we should sell.

Buy George, Grealish and another winger with pace, as well as giving Dibling game time.

Invest in fullbacks to give our wingers a chance going forward.

777Kidnappings wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 12:02 pm Id be saying 75m plus release clause or you can stay on what youre on.

We can sell him for 50 or 60m today the difference is now we dont have to, hes cheap wages and we could get even more if he kicks on. We'd give up all 3 of them things for what?? A longer contract doesnt benefit us if it comes with a low release clause.

Begs the question why the hell are we throwing contracts at him when he’s got years to run and no interest in signing unless he gets an emergency exit.

I think his agency think £80m is as ridiculous to them as £40m is to us.

I think everyone in the room thinks we would take £60m for him, which just so happens to be between those two numbers

superpull wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 12:51 pm I think his agency think £80m is as ridiculous to them as £40m is to us.

I think everyone in the room thinks we would take £60m for him, which just so happens to be between those two numbers

Thing is we hold all the cards. He's got 3 years left on his contract and we are under no obligation to pay him more than he's currently on.

If he wants a pay rise then he'll need to accept our terms, and whilst there may be some room for negotiation, his team are doing it from a position of weakness not strength.

I don’t see us holding all the cards at all.

A team a lot better than us is able to offer him three times than what he’s already on without it making a dint in their budget, and from there it becomes impossible for us to keep him.

We might get good money for him, but I think it’s a near certainty he’s gone soon as someone shows solid interest.

We won’t be getting what we want out of this situation which one of our best players being at the club next season.

brap2 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 12:36 pm Begs the question why the hell are we throwing contracts at him when he’s got years to run and no interest in signing unless he gets an emergency exit.

Totally agree. He wants a contract where he gets more money, can leave when he wants and should he kick on pocket the difference between the clause and his real value

If what's being reported is true theres no common ground in the negotiations to work from

superpull wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 12:51 pm I think his agency think £80m is as ridiculous to them as £40m is to us.

I think everyone in the room thinks we would take £60m for him, which just so happens to be between those two numbers

Is it though. The release clause is meant to be well in excess of his current worth. They are asking for less than his current worth. Even at 60m its a number we could maybe get today

TheRam wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 2:12 pm I don’t see us holding all the cards at all.

A team a lot better than us is able to offer him three times than what he’s already on without it making a dint in their budget, and from there it becomes impossible for us to keep him.

We might get good money for him, but I think it’s a near certainty he’s gone soon as someone shows solid interest.

We won’t be getting what we want out of this situation which one of our best players being at the club next season.

All the cards with regards his contract situation.

I'm fairly resigned to him leaving either way, so I'm not really talking about that side of things.

Whether we get a whole bunch of cash or keep him, it’s fine.

He’s massively talented but his output isn’t matching his skill level and general work rate, especially assists and general chance creation.

His name’s already written into our history as last scorer at Goodison and first at Hill Dickinson. Maybe he goes supernova somewhere else and fulfills his potential, maybe not.

I’d probably take it if someone offered us enough to fund Grealish, George, and have some leftover cash in our pocket. You get an elite creator today and kick the can down the road on developing another big talent plus something extra to spend on a midfielder or a full back.

I’ve really enjoyed watching him the past two years and it feels kind of cold putting it like that but that’s football. Neither side really owes the other any special loyalty even though it’s been a good marriage between club and player so far.

If we get £50-60m for him which would be a decent fee and we can't replace 4 open play goals and 3 assists with that money then I'd be asking questions of our recruitment department. Good fun to watch and he's part of Everton folklore and a future quiz question but he's had one season in double figures and that was 46 game Championship season.