Transfers

Maarten Stekelenburg
Fulham to Everton
£1 million

So the first signing of the new era isnt exactly exciting, but not unexpected either. With Howard leaving in the summer, we always needed more in goal anyway, and it has been widely suggested that he will be backup anyway as we are looking at other keepers, so from that point of view, a no lose situation. Didnt exactly cover himself in glory at Southampton last season, as they had a difficult start to last season, where an upturn in form seemed to coincide with Fraser Forster's return to fitness. He has 54 caps for the Dutch national side, and played in the 2010 World Cup Final.

Elsewhere, this summer has already felt like the end of an era, with the departures of Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert and Steven Pienaar at the end of their contracts.

Tony Hibbert is probably the only player at Everton to spark a pitch invasion for scoring in a pre season friendly! A lifelong Blue, he joined us as a 10 year old in 1991 and spent his whole career here. Had his limitations as a player, but has been a solid first team player for his boyhood club since his debut in 2001, until a raft of injuries and the emergence of Seamus Coleman in the last few years restricted him. Our record appearance holder in Europe, one of the best tacklers and most solid full backs the club has produced, he never had the glamour and attacking prowess of the likes of Leighton Baines, but as a defender, fantastic. Made only one appearance last season as a sub at home to Bournemouth, but still managed to lift the crowd and push us on to a win. Hibbo lived the dream, and it will be odd starting a new season without him on the squad list, as much as it was expected. And that night against AEK Athens, it happened. I was there. Hibbo scored, we rioted. All was well.

Leon Osman is another one it will be strange to see Everton without. A member of the 1998 FA Youth Cup winning side, he was a slow starter at Everton following a nasty injury sustained just after that Cup win, which meant he never made his first start for the club until 2004 after loan spells at Carlisle and Derby. He made an immediate impact though scoring after 2 minutes in a 2-1 defeat at Wolves, and that has been a trademark of his Everton career, an excellent goalscoring record, and scorer of some pretty special goals. Finishing off that team goal against Larissa in 2007 was one of the finest goals ever seen at Goodison, a couple of memorable goals in wins up at Newcastle, a towering header in a win over Man City, he was a player who at his best, was at the centre of everything good we did.

Then there's Steven Pienaar, a man who seemingly couldnt live without Everton having signed for us four times! A little bit frustrating at times, and should have scored more goals than he did, Pienaar was still a fantastic player for us, who sadly suffered an injury hit last year or two at the end. His partnership down the left with Baines was an Everton mainstay for several years as they brought the best out of each other, with one or both of them behind most of our good moves and goals. Finishing off a flowing move to score a late equaliser in that crazy 4-4 draw at Old Trafford has to be up there as Stevie P's best Everton moments. But then Pienaar was one of those players who was generally setting up those great moments for someone else.

The Manager

So it was a slow start to the summer anyway, with our search for a new manager preceeding everything following Roberto Martinez's sacking in May. It was obvious that new owner Farhad Moshiri's new investment was going to be telling this summer, when the names linked with us were the likes of De Boer and Emery, rather than Alan Curbishley and Tim Sherwood, but we actually got our first choice man in Southampton's Ronald Koeman, to much hilarity and Southampton heads falling off. With the level of manager available to us (enough ambition to turn our nose up at the likes of Mark Hughes, but not in Europe and not exactly able to attract the likes of Mourinho and Simeone) Koeman to me always looked the best option. Relatively experienced, having managed in 4 different countries, Holland, Portugal, Spain and England, has won things not just as a manager but won pretty much everything as a player, so brings a winning mentality we havent seen at this club in decades. The fact he does come from another Premier League club, where he did a very good job, means he also has experience and know how of the Premier League and will know the kinds of players to go for who will do well here.

He also brings a reputation. Already there is talk of Lukaku and Stones staying, despite big money offers from elsewhere, as we now dont just have a lot of money (coupled with the new TV deal of course) but we have a manager who carries a lot of respect around Europe. It's still a bit jaw dropping seeing us linked with signing the likes of Juan Mata and Axel Witsel rather than the old days of being linked with Alan Smith and Robbie Savage all summer!

The players not involved in international tournaments this summer all reported back to pre season training yesterday, and so far our first game will be a Barnsley on July 23rd.