Tuesday 29 January 2013

LEROY FER

Who is he? Where does he play?

He is Everton's new £8.6 million signing who the Toffees have sneaked under the transfer radar like a stealth bomber to take off the hands of FC Twente. He's 23, he's Dutch, he has a surname that looks like it has been cut in half and he's a dynamic centre-midfielder who came through the academy at Feyenoord.

Everton signing £8 million + plus on a player?

Yep, the normally tighter than the thighs on a fat girl Bill Kenwright has backed David Moyes quite handsomely with this capture after his manager reportedly spent the whole week in Holland trying to seal the deal. He is billed as the long-term replacement for the heavily sought-after afro-haired Marouane Fellaini and will add young impetus into a midfield that currently looks a little light.

What else will he add?

While Fellaini has been moved foward as an attacking midfielder to much success, Everton have looked a little light-weight (Darron Gibson/ Leon Osman), old (Phil Neville) or not-really wanted (John Heitinga) in the centre of midfield. Fer, whose strong, unforgiving displays at Twente have earned him the nickname "the bouncer" will restore some bite to the engine room if nothing else. He is big and physical and he is a comparison gold-mine, he has been likened to Patrick Vieira and Franck Rijkaard by Dutch national youth-coaches and to Sami Khedira and Yaya Toure by his modest self.

Vieira, Khedira, Rijkaard and Toure? Tough company..

It's the idea of promoting himself in that mould more than anything. Like Vieira, he can pick the ball up from deep and charge through the midfield like a traction engine in the vein of Toure before using the ball cleverly in the final third like Khedira. He can start attacks and finish them himself as a powerful, energetic box-to-box force and can pass well too, both long and short. He is a complete, robust midfielder who is primed for inheriting Fellaini's place. He currently plays in the double-pivot of a 4-2-3-1 for Twente, so expect him to drop in deep, perhaps alongside Leon Osman, first of all.

This sounds very exciting

It is and I don't think David Moyes and Everton would have been quite so persuasive with the bank manager if Fer, also impressing Dutch manager Louis Van Gaal as he has been given two caps in the Netherland's World Cup qualifying process, wasn't a good prospect. The young midfielder has aspirations of playing in Europe for Everton and with his signing, that may come sooner, rather than later. 


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