Who will Junior Hoilett sign for?

Junior Hoilett is looking for a new club this summer after leaving relegated Blackburn Rovers and has plenty of options.

Hoilett scored 14 goals in 92 games for Blackburn Rovers

The wide man enjoyed a very good season last year in a struggling Rovers side and was one of their bright spots in a poor season. In his 34 league games he scored seven goals and got seven assists which is impressive for a lot of wingers, however, it is just not good enough for a team in the Champions League in my opinion. Chelsea would be the most likely as they are heavily linked with Victor Moses and I think Hoilett is slightly better than him. There are rumours that he could still sign a new contract at the Ewood Park club but I don’t think he wants to play in the Championship and he is better than that. He served the club well playing almost 100 games and I’m sure the fans were happy with his commitment and his performances over the last few seasons.

QPR are currently the favourites to sign him and he does seem to be a Mark Hughes type of player and that is someone that likes to play wide but cut in and get shots away. They are in need of wingers too as Shaun Wright-Phillips has struggled and never really made a positive impact since moving to the club and Jamie Mackie who had an ok season in my opinion is just not good enough if QPR want to move forward. I’m sure Bobby Zamora, Andy Johnson and Djibril Cisse would much prefer to see Hoilett on the ball out wide than their current players as he just has that unpredictability that is needed at times.

Another club that could be interested is Newcastle United as he would fit into the style of football manager Alan Pardew wants them to play. If he did sign then they would have a frightening attacking line up in Hatem Ben Arfa, Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse and Junior Hoilett on the left. The only problem that this would lead to is their fullbacks wouldn’t get much protection and it would be very harsh just to drop Jonas Gutierrez after everything he has done for the club. I think this could be a good move for both club and player but I don’t see it happening because Hoilett may want too high a wage.

Finally, a little surprisingly to me Everton have been linked with him as just said he will probably want a high wage and Everton don’t usually give out that big a wage. But, if they could convince him to sign then he would certainly create chances for Nikica Jelavic and with the team already having a lot of good passers in their midfield, he would just add something different and if he could get crosses in then it would probably help Tim Cahill rediscover his goal scoring touch.

I think he will sign for QPR as they could be a surprise team this year and challenge for the top half of the table and with a bit of luck maybe a European place through a cup competition. Plus, they have the finances to give him a very good wage.

Everton produce a fantastic performance to beat Sunderland

Everton are through to the semi final of the FA cup after a fantastic victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Moyes will be desperate to win a trophy as manager of Everton

It looked as though Everton may have missed their chance after only drawing at Goodison Park but their performance against Sunderland was one of the best I have ever seen from an away side especially in the second half. Sunderland must have been very optimistic that they could get through and maybe froze under the pressure of being the favourites and this will infuriate Martin O’Neill. Although, in my opinion they shouldn’t have been favourites as Everton have some fantastic players and give every team they come up against a very good game which Manchester City learned earlier in the season.

But onto the game itself and they deserved the win and I don’t think anyone in the stadium could have denied them of that. Nikica Jelavic opened the scoring and his movement and hold up play was a joy to watch at times as the Sunderland players could not cope with him and even though he did miss a few chances, he is exactly what Everton have been missing for a number of years, and that is a proven goal scorer. Maybe this is a slightly harsh assessment as they have had Yakubu, Louis Saha and Andy Johnson but I believe that Jelavic will do better than all of these and may even push the club onto the next level.

What makes it even more surprising that they could perform to such a high standard is that the team were late arriving at the stadium because of heavy traffic and this must have left them feeling slightly unprepared. When the game started though you could see that David Moyes had got his tactics spot on yet again. Their midfield was particularly impressive, and all five of them deserve a lot of praise because they worked very hard for each other and had that little bit of quality which Sunderland lacked. I am going to say that Magaye Gueye impressed me the most, this could be because I haven’t seen a lot of him and wasn’t expecting too much, but every time he had the ball he caused the defence problems and he looked very direct and quick which makes me wonder why he hasn’t had more of a chance since he signed for the club. Leon Osman on the right wing did his usual consistent job and I think it is remarkable how he hasn’t even got an England cap. Is he the best player to have never been capped in recent times? He has a lot more ability than he is given credit for and can play anywhere across the midfield which is a bonus for Moyes.

Tim Cahill’s performance was also pleasing as he is now getting back to the form we all know he is capable of. It looks as though he has got a spring in his step now and it wouldn’t surprise me if he scored a few more times before the season is out.

Liverpool in the semi final now and that could be the biggest game in Moyes’ 10 years in charge as it is not only local pride at stake but it is also beating your local rivals at Wembley for a place in the final.

Ten years at Everton for David Moyes

David Moyes has reached a landmark that not many others do in modern day football and he deserves every bit of praise that he receives.

For 10 years he has been at Everton and has taken them to the FA Cup final and also to Champions League qualification. Who could have imagined this when he first took charge? Especially when at times in his reign he has been given very little money and had to replace players with cheaper options who he has made into very good Premier League players. Tim Cahill is one of these who owes his Premier League career to Moyes and he has served club and manager brilliantly. At the time of his signing a lot of clubs were looking at him but Moyes took a chance on him and he has repaid the faith with eight years loyal service and scoring many important goals.

Moyes became Everton manager on the 14th March 2002

Sometimes in football the stats do lie though and I believe the Scottish manager has been overlooked for arguably bigger jobs because of his win percentage which is surprisingly only 41.74%. But during this time he has got Everton into Europe on four occasions and in the last two seasons came very close to getting the team there again. But his real skill is in the transfer market, yes he hasn’t got them all right but nobody ever will, just looking at the players he has bought, when he signed them they were not necessarily household names but after a season or two they were considered some of the best in the league. Mikel Arteta is one of these who not many had heard of but he was vital in the way the team played and this led to speculation that he could leave the club which he eventually did when he joined Arsenal. Steven Pienaar is another great example of this.

He also doesn’t mind giving players a chance for example he signed Joleon Lescott and in my opinion he would not be at Manchester City if it wasn’t for the Everton manager because he took a chance on him even though he had never played a Premier League game. Leighton Baines is another, as well as Phil Jagielka. The lists just go on for him and his success far out way his disappointments in the transfer marker, even the experienced players he has brought in have made a positive impact, a lot of people may not have thought the Phil Neville signing was going to be good but his versatility has proved vital over the years and Tim Howard who was deemed a failure in the Premier League but was given another shot and he is arguably one of the best keepers in the league.

Finally, Moyes does not only rely on transfers, he is very good with the youth team, when they bring a player through he treats them right and does not let the spotlight get on them too much. When Wayne Rooney burst onto the scene it would have been easy for the pressure to get to him but Moyes didn’t allow that and I hope that Rooney realises one day how much Moyes did for him. You can add Jack Rodwell and Ross Barkley to that list as well.

It is remarkable looking back at his Everton career because there are so many positives in everything he has done but how different it could have been if he got sacked after finishing 2003-4 season in 17^th place. But the board stuck with him and well done to them too. He three time LMA Manager of the Year and eight time Premier League manager of the Month will no doubt continue to do a very good job at Everton and I also believe he is one of the reasons why Everton are a lot of football fans ‘second team’ and this cannot be a bad thing for the club on a whole.