ANOTHER surreal day in a typically Everton summer of transfer verbosity.
First the ECHO report that a deal is on the verge of being struck with Fulham and that AJ wants out.
Then the club deny any such offer has even been made by the Londoners, let alone a £10.5m deal struck. So far, so confusing...
The ECHO's story was perfectly in line with the rest of the national media, so either 12 reporters have all made the same mistake or there's something fishy going on.
I suspect it's the later.
All I've ever heard from someone who know Andy Johnson well is that he wants to stay at Everton.
He is settled in the North-West with his wife and his kids are happy at school here.
Soon after the season finished he became aware the he may well be sacrificed in the summer to fund moves for other players.
So much so that when he returned from holiday, he was asking friends if the press had been reporting transfer gossip about him leaving.
Eventually it was communicated to him that Everton would listen to offers.
Now on Tuesday. The nationals report that AJ left Deepdale saying he wasn't "in the right frame of mind to play". Cue forums and message boards awash with people questioning his attitude and condemning the player.
Look at it this way though. How would you feel if you'd already been told privately by your boss that he would let you leave and then you see reports in the press about a £10.5m move being on the brink, while you are totally in the dark?
Andrew Johnson left Deepdale in a taxi on Tuesday as confused as everyone else about this transfer.
It may well be that we need to sell him in order to strengthen elsewhere and David Moyes cannot be criticised for that.
I believe that £10.5m is good business for a player who, although effective and with some very good qualities, often lets himself down in front of goal.
However his attitude and commitment have never been in doubt. Johnson was benched for large parts of last season but always gave his best when returned to the side.
He even bounced back psychologically from the horror-show of scoring one - then missing two penalties in front of the Street end against Metalist.
So if the inevitable deal goes through - be it Fulham, Wigan or anyone else - it's unfair if the brickbats come out.
Johnson will have been sold for the sake of expediency, and there's not much he could have done about it.
We should wish him well and hope the money is spent wisely on midfield and striking replacements.
P.S.
Oliver Kay at The Times seems to believe we would suddenly have big bucks should AJ go. I wish I knew his source or had his optimism...
Everton have yet to make a significant foray into the transfer market this summer, Moyes scrutinising his targets as carefully as ever, but the sale of Johnson would leave them with between £25million and £30million to invest. A new centre forward - such as Darren Bent, of Tottenham Hotspur, or Diego Milito, of Real Zaragoza - is a priority, but Moyes has also been alerted to the availability of João Moutinho, the outstanding Portugal midfield player. Sporting Lisbon would demand up to £18million for Moutinho, 21, but Everton would consider such a deal only if it could be structured in a way that spread the payments over 12 months or more.
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Captain Brent wrote...
Seems inevitable that he will go now. I'd take the £10.5m for him it is good business. Signing him to a five year deal, recently confirming he is not for sale then offloading him? Not the treatment you would expect is it? Just what is going behind the scenes with the ground fiasco, moyes contract, transfer kitty etc...who knows?!
Completely agree with the points raised, he always gave his best but often in a 1 on 1 situation you just didn't fancy him to score as his finishing did let him down at times.
He gave us some great moments v Liverpool, Arsenal and in Europe but to me he seemed to have lost that bit of pace and the ability to leave a man dead and then go on to score...which he always looked capable of doing in his first season with us.
Posted by: Captain Brent | July 24, 2008 9:56 AM