A bit of speculation for a change and a new name as well.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... apoli.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Everton's deal for Duvan Zapata dead because of Napoli's €30m valuation, agent confirms.
Napoli forward and Everton target Duvan Zapata "would already be in England" if the Italian side's valuation was not so high, according to the player's agent Vincenzo Morabito.'

Source - http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/evertons-deal- ... ms-1633903" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I love a bit of speculation but this doesn't look too likely

isn't that a Mexican bed , ... theres no base in this and hes useless at headboard and footboard two essentials for a Footballer

Napoli are holding out for €30m (About £27 million) according to the International Business Times. Can't see it if that's their asking price.

Edit: Claretrobo beat me to it....

the only news I take from that article is "Burnley have Andre Gray, who is understood to have switched agents to Jorge Mendes, and he has one year left on contract.". If he's teamed up with that ****** then he'll be gone by the end of the window

If Mendes is Gray's new agent it'd go some way to explaining the Wolves link.

Can't have a thread like this without the obligatory YouTube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcAQrumyJL0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edit - Christ, even the YouTube video makes him look crap, haha. Anyway, seems to have some physicality. Likes to receive ball with back to goal and turn with it.

We've offered this guy a deal, apparently he wants to sleep on it.

It does mention a loan option. Could that be a possibility?

It does mention a loan option. Could that be a possibility?

Inchysince93 wrote:It does mention a loan option. Could that be a possibility?

There's always a possibility but I wouldn't think a player with a €30 mil valuation would be put out on loan as opposed to a permanent deal.

I wouldn't either but I need to cling to a shred of hope. He looks good (granted he will on YouTube) and seems to posses the best bits of all our forwards.

Viva Zapata...

claretrobo1 wrote:There's always a possibility but I wouldn't think a player with a €30 mil valuation would be put out on loan as opposed to a permanent deal.

He's been on loan for the last 2 seasons.

With us always playing for a drawer, I think this player will fit in nicely.

He's shoe to sign for us.

UTC!

Diesel wrote:We've offered this guy a deal, apparently he wants to sleep on it.

Shame he's not a defender or a goalkeeper as then he could help us keep a clean sheet

Somebody summed it up for me the other day on another thread. If we were to sell Gray to wolves for 20 million or somewhere else for 15/20 mill, all we have to do is put 10/15 million to it and we have a 30 million pound striker. Zapata would be an excellent addition. Nows our best chance to get a deal like this done, next year gray leaves for free and we'd have to spend a full 30 million to get someone like this with decent quality in. Excited by this one. Anybody know what sort of wages he's on?

Conroy92 wrote:Somebody summed it up for me the other day on another thread. If we were to sell Gray to wolves for 20 million or somewhere else for 15/20 mill, all we have to do is put 10/15 million to it and we have a 30 million pound striker. Zapata would be an excellent addition. Nows our best chance to get a deal like this done, next year gray leaves for free and we'd have to spend a full 30 million to get someone like this with decent quality in. Excited by this one. Anybody know what sort of wages he's on?

Out of interest, why would he be an excellent addition? I've only seen some clips of him on YouTube and I wasn't totally convinced.

If we buy a duvan from Oak Furnitureland we get a 50% discount.

good on you conroy...... get all those loose ends tied up so we can move directly to Go

£27m this looks likely. Next. If Gray has Mendes as an agent a move will definitely be on the cards at some point as the agent will want a nice big fee.

I wouldn't be against us spending that sort of money on a player, if they're a real talent that we can benefit from for a season or two before selling on for a big profit.

I know nothing about this bloke to know whether he would be good or not, but would we ever consider spending such a huge sum, let alone such a huge sum on a player that's 30?

He reminded me of Ade.

As a massive lefty I'd love a Zapata in a Burnley shirt

He makes look Lukaku and Benteke look lightweight.

I thought this was a better video, showcasing his talent against the champions. If he can do this for us against top teams for us very promising indeed:
https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My highlights are at 2.20: https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I?t=2m20s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; when he sends Chiellini (who is by no means an easy target to beat physically) flying 1 or 2 metres backwards, his dummy turn and sprint at 4.26 https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I?t=4m26s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and also his goal beating Buffon, arguably the best goalkeeper in the world at his near post. 0.59 https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I?t=59s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .

Being a Columbian playing in Italy though his English is probably very basic and who knows if his attitude is more Akinbiyi vs Bikey.

Seems at least from the clips he has the credentials to make it as a striker in the premier league, particulary when we play with one up front. Strong, powerful, fast, good in air. I'm thinking Drogba/Lukaku like. 1 cap for Columbia this year too..albeit when hes 30.

His stats are terrible: a goal every 315 minutes last season.

Our strikers, in a more competitive league:

Gray: 1 every 252m
Barnes: 1 every 297m
Vokes: 1 every 206m

Where are people getting this idea that he's 30? All of the sources I've found online say he's 26.

Used to sport a Zapata tash for quite a few years.

IndigoLake, seems like Wikipedia is wrong, Napoli's website state he was born in 91. Even better!

Are you sure those stats are right Mo? Scored 27 in 63 games for Udinese don't sound too bad for me..

superdimitri wrote:He makes look Lukaku and Benteke look lightweight.

I thought this was a better video, showcasing his talent against the champions. If he can do this for us against top teams for us very promising indeed:
https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My highlights are at 2.20: https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I?t=2m20s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; when he sends Chiellini (who is by no means an easy target to beat physically) flying 1 or 2 metres backwards, his dummy turn and sprint at 4.26 https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I?t=4m26s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and also his goal beating Buffon, arguably the best goalkeeper in the world at his near post. 0.59 https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I?t=59s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .

Being a Columbian playing in Italy though his English is probably very basic and who knows if his attitude is more Akinbiyi vs Bikey.

Seems at least from the clips he has the credentials to make it as a striker in the premier league, particulary when we play with one up front. Strong, powerful, fast, good in air. I'm thinking Drogba/Lukaku like. 1 cap for Columbia this year too..albeit when hes 30.

Yes, that is a better clip to be fair. Thanks for that.

superdimitri wrote:IndigoLake, seems like Wikipedia is wrong, Napoli's website state he was born in 91. Even better!

Fair enough! Doubt there's anything in it anyway but a few years younger makes all the difference, especially at the sort of price quoted!

Wiki has him 30
Most other sites 26

superdimitri wrote:IndigoLake, seems like Wikipedia is wrong, Napoli's website state he was born in 91. Even better!

Are you sure those stats are right Mo? Scored 27 in 63 games for Udinese don't sound too bad for me..

Yes, according to whoscored. 10 in 37 last season and worse return than any of our strikers.

superdimitri wrote:He makes look Lukaku and Benteke look lightweight.

I thought this was a better video, showcasing his talent against the champions. If he can do this for us against top teams for us very promising indeed:
https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My highlights are at 2.20: https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I?t=2m20s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; when he sends Chiellini (who is by no means an easy target to beat physically) flying 1 or 2 metres backwards, his dummy turn and sprint at 4.26 https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I?t=4m26s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and also his goal beating Buffon, arguably the best goalkeeper in the world at his near post. 0.59 https://youtu.be/9joxNE5v28I?t=59s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .

Being a Columbian playing in Italy though his English is probably very basic and who knows if his attitude is more Akinbiyi vs Bikey.

Seems at least from the clips he has the credentials to make it as a striker in the premier league, particulary when we play with one up front. Strong, powerful, fast, good in air. I'm thinking Drogba/Lukaku like. 1 cap for Columbia this year too..albeit when hes 30.

Sorry but he looks bang average in this video. He seems to make the wrong decision more often than not, and when he makes the right one his execution is poor.

I wouldn't even pay 10m for him given we already have better / equivalent.

Wikipedias stats seem to be wrong, not just for age, but also goals scored.

superdimitri wrote:Wikipedias stats seem to be wrong, not just for age, but also goals scored.

If you go down to the 'career stats' section of the wiki page it shows 18 in 63, which is consistent w whoscored.

mohamed69 wrote:Sorry but he looks bang average in this video. He seems to make the wrong decision more often than not, and when he makes the right one his execution is poor.

I wouldn't even pay 10m for him given we already have better / equivalent.

To be fair, you could have a highlights clip of Vokes, Gray or Barnes from a game and see something similar. Defenders win most of the battles versus strikers and it's up to the strikers to create something for themselves or for a team mate. In this case, he scored a goal so good on him.

IndigoLake wrote:To be fair, you could have a highlights clip of Vokes, Gray or Barnes from a game and see something similar. Defenders win most of the battles versus strikers and it's up to the strikers to create something for themselves or for a team mate. In this case, he scored a goal so good on him.

Agreed, and I wouldn't pay 30m for any of them!

Much more telling than video clips are the stats over the course of a long season, and his aren't great.

Hopefully our club make recruitment decisions based on more than wikipedia statistics and youtube videos.

Rileybobs wrote:Hopefully our club make recruitment decisions based on more than wikipedia statistics and youtube videos.

They certainly don't look through old tweets

mohamed69 wrote:Agreed, and I wouldn't pay 30m for any of them!

Much more telling than video clips are the stats over the course of a long season, and his aren't great.

Like when Diego Costa was at Valladolid in 2009-10 and scored 8 goals in 34 or when Luis Suárez was at Gronigan and scored 10 in 29.

He's 26 and plays for a top side (Napoli, although they want rid). Been linked with a few decent Prem sides and has international caps for a decent side to his name. Must be crap.

You can't make it up.

mohamed69 wrote:Agreed, and I wouldn't pay 30m for any of them!

Much more telling than video clips are the stats over the course of a long season, and his aren't great.

Yes, can't argue regarding his goals scored - he's not exactly prolific though he's still relatively young in his footballing career (only 63 appearances in Italy according to Wiki). However, 18 goals in 63 games in total isn't bad. I like that he clearly has the physicality for the PL which is obviously a big plus. He's got a burst of pace as well. Of course, this could all be irrelevant but I too would have concerns about him at such a steep price. The question is, is there any truth it it? I doubt it.

We need to move towards the employment of more technological instruments that will provide key insights into player evaluations and allow us to get ahead of the game. I would advocate the use of a "Magic 8 Ball" in any and all possible transfers.

Is X the player we need?

"Yes"

Will Y be enough to tempt his current club?

"The signs point to yes"

Will Z score more than 40 goals in the coming season?

"The outlook is doubtful"

We could use it in conjunction with a "Magic Fortune Teller Fish" for personality based assessments. It's the pound land future of player recruitment I tell you.

Has he got dual nationality?

If not there's no chance he'd get a work permit with a single cap for Colombia.

superdimitri wrote:Like when Diego Costa was at Valladolid in 2009-10 and scored 8 goals in 34 or when Luis Suárez was at Gronigan and scored 10 in 29.

When they were both 19-21? Hardly relevant for a 26 (30?) year old with 180 appearances. I can name a lot of other examples of average 26yo strikers with average returns who I wouldn't pay 15m for, let alone 30.

IndigoLake wrote:Yes, can't argue regarding his goals scored - he's not exactly prolific though he's still relatively young in his footballing career (only 63 appearances in Italy according to Wiki). However, 18 goals in 63 games in total isn't bad. I like that he clearly has the physicality for the PL which is obviously a big plus. He's got a burst of pace as well. Of course, this could all be irrelevant but I too would have concerns about him at such a steep price. The question is, is there any truth it it? I doubt it.

I'd probably take a punt for 5-10m, no more.

Season loan with a permanent fee set for end based on appearances during the loan?

I bet he won't get out of bed for less than 50k a week

Long Time Lurker wrote:We need to move towards the employment of more technological instruments that will provide key insights into player evaluations and allow us to get ahead of the game. I would advocate the use of a "Magic 8 Ball" in any and all possible transfers.

Is X the player we need?

"Yes"

Will Y be enough to tempt his current club?

"The signs point to yes"

Will Z score more than 40 goals in the coming season?

"The outlook is doubtful"

We could use it in conjunction with a "Magic Fortune Teller Fish" for personality based assessments. It's the pound land future of player recruitment I tell you.

I would also like Zoltar from Big to be hired alongside them.