14 - Niels Nkounkou - didn't make it

First new signing......

https://www.evertonfc.com/news/1705658/everton-sign-young-french-defender

Can I be the first to say...he'll never make it.

Welcome Niels.

Looked a cracking player in the Preston game at the weekend

Now appearing in the first team squad on the OS ... bizarrely as no 14... which is also Townsend's number ! ... shambles

https://www.evertonfc.com/players/76258/niels-nkounkou

Loaned out...

Defender Niels Nkounkou has moved to Cardiff City to play in the Championship for the 2022/23 season after signing a new two-year Everton contract until the end of June 2024. The 21-year-old left-back joined Everton from Marseille in 2020 and spent last season on loan with Belgian club Standard Liege. A France Under-19 international, who represented his country at the delayed 2021 Olympic Games in Japan, Nkounkou has made seven First-Team appearances for Everton after making his debut in the 3-0 Carabao Cup victory at Salford City in September 2020.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64274680

This looks like another typical Everton signing - bring in a talented youngster, loan him out endlessly, before he leaves on a free. We are basically a budget version of Chelsea.

Everton defender Niels Nkounkou (on loan at Saint-Etienne) has been called up to the France U21 squad for their games against England & Spain

Niels Nkounkou will join Saint-Étienne for an undisclosed fee after the French club took up the option to sign the left-back on a permanent transfer.

Nkounkou, who moved to Everton in July 2020 following the end of his contract at Marseille, has spent the second half of the 2022/23 season on loan at Saint-Étienne, making 19 appearances and scoring six goals for the Ligue 2 club.

The 22-year-old Frenchman initially moved to Cardiff City for the first half of the campaign, having been on loan with Belgian side Standard Liege in 2021/22.

Nkounkou, who will sign for Saint-Étienne on 1 July once his loan period ends on 30 June, made seven appearances for Everton, having made his debut against Salford City in the Carabao Cup in September 2020.

Everyone at Everton thanks Niels for his service and wishes him all the best for the future.
https://www.evertonfc.com/news/3527117?fbclid=IwAR0bUnsO8AZVaYJKE1ocLbX8OJL3z3artY7-6CxaCSL45E7nsoUrk3tkqLk

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:Niels Nkounkou will join Saint-Étienne for an undisclosed fee after the French club took up the option to sign the left-back on a permanent transfer.

Nkounkou, who moved to Everton in July 2020 following the end of his contract at Marseille, has spent the second half of the 2022/23 season on loan at Saint-Étienne, making 19 appearances and scoring six goals for the Ligue 2 club.

The 22-year-old Frenchman initially moved to Cardiff City for the first half of the campaign, having been on loan with Belgian side Standard Liege in 2021/22.

Nkounkou, who will sign for Saint-Étienne on 1 July once his loan period ends on 30 June, made seven appearances for Everton, having made his debut against Salford City in the Carabao Cup in September 2020.

Everyone at Everton thanks Niels for his service and wishes him all the best for the future.
https://www.evertonfc.com/news/3527117?fbclid=IwAR0bUnsO8AZVaYJKE1ocLbX8OJL3z3artY7-6CxaCSL45E7nsoUrk3tkqLk

Well, he was no Ruben Vinagre was he?

hairy cataract wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:Niels Nkounkou will join Saint-Étienne for an undisclosed fee after the French club took up the option to sign the left-back on a permanent transfer.

Nkounkou, who moved to Everton in July 2020 following the end of his contract at Marseille, has spent the second half of the 2022/23 season on loan at Saint-Étienne, making 19 appearances and scoring six goals for the Ligue 2 club.

The 22-year-old Frenchman initially moved to Cardiff City for the first half of the campaign, having been on loan with Belgian side Standard Liege in 2021/22.

Nkounkou, who will sign for Saint-Étienne on 1 July once his loan period ends on 30 June, made seven appearances for Everton, having made his debut against Salford City in the Carabao Cup in September 2020.

Everyone at Everton thanks Niels for his service and wishes him all the best for the future.
https://www.evertonfc.com/news/3527117?fbclid=IwAR0bUnsO8AZVaYJKE1ocLbX8OJL3z3artY7-6CxaCSL45E7nsoUrk3tkqLk

Well, he was no Ruben Vinagre was he?

I read somewhere that St Etienne were intending to take up their option to buy him (for €2m apparently) and then immediately sell him on for €4m, with a Ligue 1 club lined up and interested. Marseille, I think? Could be bollocks.

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:Niels Nkounkou will join Saint-Étienne for an undisclosed fee after the French club took up the option to sign the left-back on a permanent transfer.

Nkounkou, who moved to Everton in July 2020 following the end of his contract at Marseille, has spent the second half of the 2022/23 season on loan at Saint-Étienne, making 19 appearances and scoring six goals for the Ligue 2 club.

The 22-year-old Frenchman initially moved to Cardiff City for the first half of the campaign, having been on loan with Belgian side Standard Liege in 2021/22.

Nkounkou, who will sign for Saint-Étienne on 1 July once his loan period ends on 30 June, made seven appearances for Everton, having made his debut against Salford City in the Carabao Cup in September 2020.

Everyone at Everton thanks Niels for his service and wishes him all the best for the future.
https://www.evertonfc.com/news/3527117?fbclid=IwAR0bUnsO8AZVaYJKE1ocLbX8OJL3z3artY7-6CxaCSL45E7nsoUrk3tkqLk

Well, he was no Ruben Vinagre was he?

I read somewhere that St Etienne were intending to take up their option to buy him (for €2m apparently) and then immediately sell him on for €4m, with a Ligue 1 club lined up and interested. Marseille, I think? Could be bollocks.

Supposedly Marcel Brands was responsible for the low value option. Genius. Still, we could have done the same with Coady, bought him for tuppence and sold him to Sheff Utd for double, but why would a player agree to that? All it does is reduce the wage demands he can make, or any signing on fee.

hairy cataract wrote:

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:Niels Nkounkou will join Saint-Étienne for an undisclosed fee after the French club took up the option to sign the left-back on a permanent transfer.

Nkounkou, who moved to Everton in July 2020 following the end of his contract at Marseille, has spent the second half of the 2022/23 season on loan at Saint-Étienne, making 19 appearances and scoring six goals for the Ligue 2 club.

The 22-year-old Frenchman initially moved to Cardiff City for the first half of the campaign, having been on loan with Belgian side Standard Liege in 2021/22.

Nkounkou, who will sign for Saint-Étienne on 1 July once his loan period ends on 30 June, made seven appearances for Everton, having made his debut against Salford City in the Carabao Cup in September 2020.

Everyone at Everton thanks Niels for his service and wishes him all the best for the future.
https://www.evertonfc.com/news/3527117?fbclid=IwAR0bUnsO8AZVaYJKE1ocLbX8OJL3z3artY7-6CxaCSL45E7nsoUrk3tkqLk

Well, he was no Ruben Vinagre was he?

I read somewhere that St Etienne were intending to take up their option to buy him (for €2m apparently) and then immediately sell him on for €4m, with a Ligue 1 club lined up and interested. Marseille, I think? Could be bollocks.

Supposedly Marcel Brands was responsible for the low value option.  Genius.   Still, we could have done the same with Coady, bought him for tuppence and sold him to Sheff Utd for double, but why would a player agree to that?  All it does is reduce the wage demands he can make, or any signing on fee.  

Indeed, but the bollocks rumour I read would make more sense for Nkounkou if true, as he'd then be moving on from a second-tier club to one of the biggest clubs in France, who apparently are in need of a left back. He's a youngster with less clout than someone like Coady, who at his age could presumably just say no to a move he didn't want and sit it out for a while if need be.

This is something that seems to happen in Europe quite a lot. The number of players I've looked up, having seen them play and thought to myself "he looks alright", who had at some point in their recent past been bought and sold twice in the same summer - it's not uncommon.

I wonder if this is essentially a money manipulation thing. Owners can apparently have fingers in many club pies and it's not deemed to be against the rules. There was a story that broke yesterday that the Leeds chairman wanted to buy Sampdoria and was intending to use Elland Road as security for the deal. Nice. It's a murky world, football.