What The Papers Say - Feb 21

Find out what today's tabloids and broadsheets are saying.

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

DENIS STRACQUALURSI says renewed confidence is the key to his Everton FC goal-scoring form but admits it took him time to adapt to the English game.

The Everton FC striker’s goal against Blackpool on Saturday was his third in five games, and his hard-working displays are turning him into a cult hero for the Goodison faithful.

But the 24-year-old Argentine, who joined the Blues on loan from homeland side Tigres in August, turned out 12 times for the Toffees before opening his goal account, and was struggling to find his feet in the Premier League.

He said: “When I first got here, it was difficult to adapt to the different style of football. But now I’m getting games and getting time, I’m scoring goals and that’s the main thing for a forward.

“I’m very happy with the goal. It’s very important for forwards to score goals for confidence. The main thing, though, is that we won. It’s a team effort.”

With January arrival Nikica Jelavic facing a spell on the sidelines – and he could yet require surgery to cure his pubalgia ailment – and Louis Saha no longer on the books, Stracqualursi has found from at the right time.

Since scoring his first goal for the club in the FA Cup fourth round win over Fulham last month, there have been clear flashes of the attacking prowess which last season saw him hit 22 goals in 38 Argentine Primera División outings.

Saturday’s close-range effort was, he says, a truer reflection of his talents, and will help keep the team-spirit thriving in the Goodison dressing room.

“We are confident and we are happy that we got to the next round,” he says. “There’s a lot of confidence in the team and we need to keep it up and take it into the next games.”

Meanwhile, skipper Phil Neville has hailed Landon Donovan’s second loan spell as more successful than his first.

The 29-year-old has helped turn Everton’s season around, and chalked up six assists in just nine matches during his second stay on Merseyside.

Donovan has now returned to Los Angeles ahead of pre-season training with LA Galaxy, and Neville believes he will be a big loss for the Toffees. He says: “Last time he came here, he lit the place up.

“He came back this time a couple of years older and with more expectation on his shoulders. He was really on a hiding to nothing and I think this time he’s performed even better.

“I know how he felt when he had to miss the game. He was devastated. It was just nice that he could thank the fans for a tremendous two months.

“He was a breath of fresh air around the place. He immersed himself in the whole club – not just on the pitch but off the pitch as well. We will miss him.”




EVERTON FC have further bolstered their youth ranks with the capture of Australian Blacktown City starlet Jake Adleson.

The highly-rated 16-year-old midfielder attracted attention from a host of clubs, but Everton have won the race for his signature, partly thanks to Socceroo Tim Cahill’s profile in Australia.

Adelson, who can also play at centre half, arrives from Blacktown City, having come through the state youth system in New South Wales.

After impressing academy coaches at Finch Farm in training earlier this season, the Blues have moved to tie him down to a long-term deal.

Adelson has now penned a three-year deal, and linked up with the club after receiving his international clearance.

The Blues are pursuing a policy of trying to build for the future by signing a host of young players to their already-renowned Finch Farm academy, and Adelson follows in the path of England U16s international George Green – who arrived from Bradford City in the summer.

Green, who was chased by Liverpool and Spurs, scored the winner against Spain on his England debut, and has already played for Kevin Sheedy’s U18s side.

And earlier this year Everton were sufficiently impressed with the trials of Cheltenham's youth-team duo of Courtney and Tyrone Duffus to offer the League Two club a deal for the duo.

Meanwhile, the Blues reserve side will take on Liverpool in the mini-derby at the Reds’ Kirkby academy today.

Alan Stubbs’ side is likely to feature midfielder Ross Barkley, who played for 10 minutes of Saturday’s first-team FA Cup win over Blackpool, along with Jose Baxter and John Lundstram

The game will come too early for recovering senior squad trio Leon Osman, Victor Anichebe and Tim Cahill, however.




Sir Alex Ferguson has lauded David Moyes's work at Everton and claimed Manchester United will need an experienced head to replace him as manager when retirement comes in "another two or three years".

The priority for the 70-year-old United manager is to retire on a "winning note" rather than a specific date. He has already shelved one retirement plan a decade ago and subsequently added five more Premier League titles and a Champions League triumph to his honours collection in that time.

In an interview with BBC's Five Live on Monday night, Ferguson said he expects to remain in a role at Old Trafford when he finally steps aside but has never discussed the issue of his successor with the chief executive, David Gill, and the United board. He claimed his wife, Cathy, would rather he take a job as a milkman than get in her way at home.

"I will remain active," Ferguson said. "I think there will be a role at United after I finish, obviously. I don't know how long it's going to last now, but if my health holds up I don't see another two or three years would harm me. I think you need stamina in my job and I think I've been blessed with good stamina. I'll know when it's time when I'm not enjoying it. I think if I got to a point where I'm not enjoying it, I would definitely get out. I think you always want to go out on a winning note and hopefully we can do that."

He added: "Players ask how long I'll be around. They all do that or their agent asks the chief executive, David Gill. That becomes more difficult the longer it goes on, of course. I answer it the way David answers it and he says I have no intention of retiring at the moment, therefore it's not a question we can answer because we don't know."

As for who could eventually succeed him at Old Trafford, Ferguson said: "We need to go down that road with United. They will need someone with experience," and claimed that even he would struggle if taking the job in 2012 "because of the beast it [the club] is."

He elaborated: "We've never discussed it. It's a dangerous game. At this moment, there are maybe half a dozen managers doing well in the Premier League. Only half a dozen because all the rest of them are fighting for their lives. Some are doing great jobs with the resources they have and David Moyes has been unbelievable. I put him in the top six because what he's done at Everton has been quite miraculous."





ALEX FERGUSON insists he is staying on as Manchester United boss because his wife has threatened to turn him into a milkman!

Ferguson passed 70 on New Year's Eve but there are still no signs of any let-up from the all-conquering Old Trafford chief.

And he could not pack it in anyway, as wife Cathy has claimed she would farm him out to the dairy trade.

Ferguson revealed: "She says 'Out of the house. If you think I'm looking after you, and you are going to be in my road every day, you're not on. So you can get another job, become a milkman'!"

As it is, Ferguson insists he still has the energy to do the job he first took a quarter of a century ago when he moved down from Aberdeen to Manchester. He puts it down to a good, solid diet, which would be a lesson to young people today with a taste for fast food.

Ferguson added: "If my health stays good, I don't think another two or three years will harm me. I think you need stamina in this job. And I have been blessed with good stamina.

"I think that has a lot to do with the kind of food I ate as a young person.

"In my house there were always broths, chicken soups and wholesome meat. We ate very little canned or processed food and always had fresh vegetables."

Despite his huge success, Ferguson still has to deal with the day-to-day expectation at a club the size of United.

He has seen off the challenges of Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea down the years. But now there is a new one in the shape of neighbours Manchester City.

The Scot is desperate that this will not be the start of a period of dominance from the noisy neighbours which stops him from going out a champion.

He declared: "The fact you have been so successful means you don't want a period when you are not successful. You want to go out on a winning note and, hopefully, we can do that."

When Ferguson finally retires, he is determined to remain at United — perhaps as an ambassador but not on the football side.

The big question is who will take over from him when he calls it a day.

Jose Mourinho is an obvious candidate and Everton boss David Moyes is highly thought of at Old Trafford.

Ferguson insists that, as yet, the subject of who will follow him has not been discussed at the highest level.

He said: "No. We have never discussed it. It is a dangerous game.

"At this moment there are maybe half a dozen managers doing very well in the Premier League. All the others are fighting for their lives.

"Some are doing great jobs with the resources they have — like David Moyes. But will that be the same, say, in two years' time when I am ready to quit? Some may have lost their job by then."




Everton have signed Aussie midfielder Jake Adelson, 16, from Blacktown City on a three-year deal.