What The Papers Say - 24 January

A round-up of the day's paper talk.

The views on this page are taken from the local and national media and do not necessarily reflect the views of Everton.

David Moyes hopes Everton's desperate need for a striker and central defender will be addressed now he has agreed to sell Diniyar Bilyaletdinov to Spartak Moscow for a fee of around £5m. Despite Moyes again having to raise a transfer budget through player sales in this window, the Russia international was deemed surplus to requirements having failed to justify the £9m spent to bring him from Lokomotiv Moscow in August 2009. Bilyaletdinov scored seven goals in his debut season, but was rarely given an opportunity in his preferred central role and struggled in left midfield. He is expected to leave for Moscow on Tuesday for a medical ahead of signing a permanent deal at the Luzhniki Stadium.

The German club Wolfsburg and Rubin Kazan were also interested in the 26-year-old, who has made 77 appearances in total for Everton and was an unused substitute in Saturday's dismal home draw against Blackburn Rovers. But the midfielder hopes a move to the Russian capital will help revive his international prospects ahead of Euro 2012.

Moyes raised around £17m through player sales last summer but his only permanent signing since has been the £500,000 acquisition of Darron Gibson from Manchester United. He is anxious to improve both Everton's attack and defence this month, with the Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha a target but in talks with Queens Park Rangers, who are likely to offer a higher salary, and hopes the impending sale of Bilyaletdinov will finally allow him some leeway in the transfer market.

EVERTON are set to flog winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov Spartak Moscow after the two clubs agreed a fee.
 
The 26-year-old Russia international will now undergo a medical ahead of a potential move back to his homeland.
 
Bilyaletdinov has failed to make a big impression since his near £9million to Goodison Park from Lokomotiv Moscow in 2009.
 
A statement on Spartak's website read: "Spartak have reached an agreement in principle with Everton and 26-year-old midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov for a transfer to our club.
 
"The contract will be signed after the medical examination."

Everton have agreed a deal with Spartak Moscow for winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, the Russian club have announced.
 
The 26-year-old Russia international will now undergo a medical ahead of a potential move back to his homeland.

Bilyaletdinov has failed to make a big impression since his near-£9million to Goodison Park from Lokomotiv Moscow in 2009.

A statement on the club's website, www.spartak.com, read: "Spartak have reached an agreement in principle with the English [club] Everton and 26-year-old midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov for a transfer to our club.

"The contract will be signed after the medical examination."

Bilyaletdinov took time to settle on Merseyside but showed potential during his first season at the Barclays Premier League club, scoring seven goals.

He failed to build on that promise and has been unable to command a regular place in David Moyes' side.

He has started just seven league matches this season and was an unused substitute in Saturday's 1-1 draw with struggling Blackburn.

Bilyaletdinov's departure would be Moyes' third major piece of business of the January transfer window after the signings of forward Landon Donovan, on loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, and midfielder Darron Gibson from Manchester United.

SHANE DUFFY says Everton owe their supporters a reaction after Saturday’s disappointing draw with Blackburn Rovers.
 
David Goodwillie’s farcical equaliser ensured Steve Kean’s strugglers left Goodison Park with a deserved 1-1 draw, and means David Moyes’ men have won just three home league games all season.
 
Friday sees them welcome Fulham to Merseyside for a fourth round FA Cup tie, and Duffy, who made his home league debut against Blackburn, says the aim is to provide something to shout about for supporters.
 
“We were disappointed and felt we could have had all three points,” said the 20-year-old.

“We should be taking them really in games like this, but sometimes it happens.
 
“We now have to get ourselves together and move on for Friday.
 
“It’s massive. (The fans) have not really had much to cheer this season, our home form has not been the greatest.

"Hopefully we can turn it around at some stage and kick on.”
 
Duffy has found himself catapulted into the first-team picture at Goodison recently, with Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin both sidelined by injury.
 
The Republic of Ireland U21 international enjoyed a fruitful loan spell at League One outfit Scunthorpe United earlier this season, and admits the experience has helped his development as a player.
 
“It definitely helped me,” he said. “It just gives you confidence really to go out and play. You feel you are improving each week, and coming back and playing with better players around you, it makes it a lot easier.
 
“When you are playing alongside a Dutch international (John Heitinga), it makes it a lot easier. He helps me a lot and so does Phil Neville. I can’t ask for much more if I am honest.”
 
Meanwhile, Everton’s home clash with Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday March 10 has been moved to a 5.30pm kick-off, to allow for live television coverage.

DINIYAR BILYALETDINOV’S Everton FC career looks to be over, with the Blues on the brink of agreeing a deal with Russian side Spartak Moscow for his transfer.
 
Spartak issued a statement on Monday afternoon claiming that a deal had been struck “in principle” with Everton for the winger, and said Bilyaletdinov would be moving to the Luzhniki Stadium once a medical had been completed.
 
Everton, however, insist that negotiations are still ongoing between the two clubs, and that a move is yet to be finalised.
 
But the ECHO understands that Russian international Bilyaletdinov should complete a return to his homeland before the end of the week.
 
The fee for the 26-year-old is understood to be in the region of £5m, though it is unclear how much of that will be paid up front, and how much is covered by add-ons and performance-related payments.
 
In any case, the move would mean the Blues would take a significant loss on the £9m they paid Lokomotiv Moscow for Bilyaletdinov back in August 2009.
 
The Russian international winger impressed initially after arriving at Goodison two-and-a-half years ago, scoring seven times in his first year on Merseyside, including the club’s Goal of the Season against Manchester United.
 
But he struggled to nail down a regular place thereafter, drifting in and out of David Moyes’ starting line-up.

He was linked with a move to German side VFL Wolfsburg during the summer, having threatened to leave Everton due to a lack of first-team opportunities, and has made just seven league starts this season.
 
He was an unused substitute during the Blues’ 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, and, if he departs Goodison, will do so having scored nine goals in 77 appearances for the Toffees.
 
And though Bilyaletdinov has rarely featured this season, appearing in just 10 of Everton’s 22 league matches, his departure will further weaken Moyes’ threadbare squad.
 
The Scot is already desperate to add at least two more faces to his ranks before the end of the month, with a striker and a central defender top of his wish-list.
 
Bilyaletdinov’s exit, however, could prompt him to focus on landing a replacement wide player, with Fiorentina’s Alessio Cerci emerging as a potential loan target.

HE HAS a degree in engineering but adjusting to the Premier League ultimately proved a bridge too far for Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.
 
If the Russian’s imminent return to Moscow is finalised as expected, it will bring to an end the Goodison career of a player who split opinion like few others during David Moyes’ reign.
 
Signed for £9m near the end of the transfer window in summer 2009, Bilyaletdinov’s arrival was only made possible after Manchester City’s late and inconvenient pursuit of Joleon Lescott was concluded.
 
Moyes had limited time to re-invest the £22m City paid for Lecott, and acted fast to recruit John Heitinga, Sylvain Distin, and the lithe Russian international he had watched from afar for more than six months.

The Everton boss took into account the recommendation of Guus Hiddink, but had actually wanted to sign the left-footed Lokomotiv Moscow captain the previous January; with his technical ability, positional flexibility and goal-scoring potential all persuading factors.
 
At first it seemed a player he compared to Kevin Sheedy would convince immediately. Bily – as he was promptly christened by team-mates and supporters – created three goals in a 4-0 Europa League thrashing of AEK Athens, and showed promise in an early Carling Cup run-out.
 
But there was a sneaking suspicion that it would take the winger time to adjust to the pace and physicality of English football. Back in Russia too, some believed that Bily might be too lightweight for the hustle and bustle of the Premier League, a concern he articulated himself.
 
“It’s very fast,” he said. “The mileage is probably the same, but the speed is different.
 
“You need more concentration and attention. Every game is a hard game – not exactly like being in a washing machine, but something along those lines.”
 
It didn’t stop Bily being named supporters player of the month for October, and the Goodison faithful seemed more than happy to give him time.

So too, at first, was Moyes although in the end time waits for no man, and in the no-holds-barred domain of a Premier League midfield, Bily had to adapt fast.
 
At times he seemed to fade into anonymity during games. Always technically adept, the speed of events on the pitch could occasionally pass him by, and players like Steven Pienaar – who epitomised the perfect Moyes combination of bustling work-rate combined with spectacular industry – set the bar very high.
 
Not that Bily wasn’t capable of outstanding moments. Anybody who denied the Muscovite’s ability to produce the unexpected had clearly been at the Russian Standard vodka.
 
Seven goals in his first season at Everton – including the strike against Manchester United at Goodison which was named supporters goal of the season – will live long in the memory. The 26-year-old produced an even better strike once the voting had closed on the final day of the 2009/10 campaign against Portsmouth.
 
The following season he produced a stunner in the spring sunshine against Wolves at Molineux, as the Blues chased a Europa League spot.
 
But more often than not, Bily soon became the first to be replaced when games were not going in Everton’s favour, and gradually his starting place became less secure.
 
Some argued, and may insist yet, that he was too often played out of position. It was in a more central role that Bily sparkled for Lokomotiv and Russia, but while that argument perhaps contains some weight, it ignores the fact that he rarely looked capable of holding his own physically in a four-man central midfield, and Moyes always saw Tim Cahill as his number one option to play behind a lone striker.
 
Ironically, Bily’s departure comes as Cahill’s place in the team is under more scrutiny than ever, but in reality Moyes has long since accepted that Bily was a gamble that hadn’t quite paid off.
 
The Blues boss now covets speed down the flanks in his transitional side, and searing pace was never one of the thoughtful, polite Russian’s qualities.
 
It wasn’t through lack of trying that Bily’s time at Everton didn’t work.

He may not have made endless runs on the field but often that was because the highly-intelligent player was trying to occupy clever space and sniff out the killer pass.
 
He tried to prove he could tackle too – and there were signs at White Hart Lane recently that he had learned.
 
But by November the 45-time capped international was beginning to see the writing on the wall, and contradicted what he told the ECHO a month earlier, that he had a point to prove at Everton.
 
“At my club I almost don’t play and therefore I’m of no interest to Dick Advocaat as a first-team player in the national team,” he was reported to have said.
 
“Of course, I’m not satisfied with this state of affairs.
 
“While there’s still time until Euro 2012, I have to change something.
 
“If nothing changes, I want to change the club in the winter. I’ve already started working on this.”
 
Job done then, in that respect. From Russia with love and back again, in just under two and a half years.
 
Bilyaletdinov’s departure is a shame, but even the most talented foreign players sometimes find the Premier League too different.
 
He will be thought of fondly by most on the blue half of Merseyside, and wished well in this summer’s European Championships.
 
And Evertonians will hope the £5m fee the Blues will receive can secure a player with the pace and goals Everton so sorely lack at present.