 Welcome to Toffee TV. Everton have signed Ben Godfrey from Norwich City and I am delighted to be joined by Jack Reeve from Torch Norwich City. Here he is. Jack, hello mate. How are you? Yeah, good mate. Thanks so much for having me on first of all. I'm really glad you've got that picture of Goodison behind you because it's one of the few fond memories I have of last season. So I'm not sure if that's been put on their sake or just to look really good. No, it's great to be on mate. Thanks for having me. That's funny because that was one of my nightmares of last season. Jack, I'm glad you got some joy out of it. Ben Godfrey, Jack, talk to me. What type of player are Everton getting? I've had a look. I've seen stats. I've seen his videos. I've looked some stuff on Weiscout. But you tell me first hand. There's a Norwich City man. What type of player Everton again? Yeah, I think you should be really excited about Ben Godfrey. I mean his development has been astonishing really. It's what three years since we signed him from York for under a million pounds. We signed him originally as more of a right back slash right midfielder and he's kind of developed into a centre back over the years. And a good kind of first season for Norwich City. He was then loaned out to Shrewsbury where he was excellent, got them into a playoff final. They were really unfortunate not to get into the championship. They were beaten by a Rotherham, but he was a real key part of that team assembled by Paul Hurst that season. It was very much a squad that was built from the back and built around Ben Godfrey. So that was a really big season for him. Off the back of that he was then brought into the Norwich side. And of course we then gained promotion from the championship into the Premier League. He played I think 35, 36 times that season. And then of course probably when Everton fans would have seen him the most was last season when he was in the Premier League and again was a big part of that squad. Now be careful kind of writing him off because I know Norwich were woeful at times last season. And defensively we were poor. I think you have to look at the system in which Daniel Farke was playing. It was very open. We tried to play football that was so successful in the championship. It didn't work in the Premier League and Farke and I'm sure Godfrey himself will admit that. But he's very quick for a defender. That's the first thing. I think that's a really exciting attribute of Godfrey. And I think that's probably one of the reasons why he has been touted with so many big clubs and eventually got his move to Everton. He's very strong. He's athletic. He's good in the air. I think the one worry for me with Ben Godfrey and something that he has to work on. I still don't think and you can tell he hasn't been brought up as a defender. Some of his positioning is slightly odd and maybe that's a managerial thing. And maybe Daniel Farke hasn't coached him in a manner in which he's helped him. But there's been certain times. I think it was Burnley at home last season. I don't know if anyone's that desperate to watch that game back. It was Norwich against Burnley and they ripped us apart and he was at fault for a couple of them goals. Just really simple runs that he wasn't able to pick up. So it's going to take a little bit of time for him to fully get in the groove. But in terms of physically, I don't think there's too many defenders better than Godfrey. Yeah, I mean that is a couple of the attributes you've said there. The reason why Evan have been looking at him really. We've got strong defenders. You know, Jeri Mina, Michael Keane who are both good defenders but not the quickest. Mason Holgate probably are fastest and he's out injured at the moment. Evan had looked obviously at Gabrielle and it looked like he was going to get him and things covered arrived and Evan tried to get him a bit cheaper and it didn't happen. I know he's left footed but he's a quick defender who's good in the air. Just looking at Godfrey, you're right. You know, I've seen him, you know more than me but the clips I've seen, he's really quick. Good passer at the ball, decent in the air but you're right a couple of times caught out. But you know, this is someone who's still growing I guess into the position because he's, he also played defensive move field for Shrewsbury, didn't he? And again, that's another, I think that's another attraction to him for Everton because you know, a player who can play in those two positions where we need cover is I think it's a big plus but you know, you're right. Is he going to be coached properly by Carlo Antelotti? You'd like to think so but for all of those attributes you've mentioned there, Everton seem to be getting a really good player. He's only 22, 23, I think coming up in January. A good day to me. Of his passing, Jack, what have you made of that? Because he does like a rake in long ball, doesn't he? No, I'm glad you picked that actually because I've kind of forgotten about that. He is, one of the kind of ways Daniel Farke likes to play is bringing out from the back but the really good thing with Ben Godfrey is he's not always kind of insistent on making a short pass. He will look for that long ball if it's there and that helped us so many times in the championship campaign. Just sometimes relieving pressure, really good kind of game management to get possession out of our half. So that's definitely there. And yeah, you're right. He can play central defensive midfield and I almost think that would be his best position. Now, he doesn't think that. He's been really annoyed actually on previous occasions. There's been a lot of talk surrounding like Norwich journalists and regularly he's asked, do you think you're playing in the right position? And he always says, yes, I am. I'm a centre-back. I'm working really hard to improve on my weaknesses and I think I'm best suited here. So yeah, I think he likes to play in centre-back. Obviously Farke liked him to play there. I think that's where you've signed him to play as well. You can tell me more on that. But he's got all of the raw attributes. It is just now about finessing them. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I'm saying he's face to tile because obviously if you need him to go into midfield then I'm sure that he wouldn't say no if you'd ask him to go and do his job there. But I just think we will afford him as a centre-back. There's no question about that. It's been well documented that we want to the centre-back. And like I say, the Gabrielle stuff, you know, you'd have to have them are in the market for a centre-back. But for him, for me, what I see with him is it is that raw pace and that he's quite an aggressive centre-back and I like that. And someone who does like to get on the ball. One thing I would ask Jack is I noticed in a lot of the clips he was playing left side of the two centre-backs that you'd employed, is that something that was regular throughout the season because he does look quite comfortable in that position? I mean, what did you make of that? Because he does seem to be able to use both of his feet. Yeah, he's very comfortable with both feet. I think that the thing that Godfrey will be most chuffed about with going to Everton, of course, going to a bigger club and playing Premier League football is up there. But he's just got more support around him. He was so exposed at times last season and he was part of a Premier League defence that none of them had played Premier League football before. I mean, we had Grant Hanley for spells who'd played a bit of Premier League football. He was out mostly injured. So he's got that support around him. I think that's going to be absolutely key, because I think that's going to be big for him. Yeah, he can use his left foot. He can use his right foot. Again, I keep saying it, but he's got the heading. He's got the power. He's got the strength. He's got the pace. He's got the shooting boots. There's a few fantastic goals he scored for Norwich. Really kind of raspers from outside the box. So he's got everything. It is just almost that awareness for me. I don't know if you can teach that. Maybe you can teach positioning. It's just learn over time. You just pick it up along the way, but more than comfortable with his left foot. That's for sure. Definitely. And you're right. I mean, sometimes players grow into positions. If he's played midfield for Susby and been right back like you said at times, and then he's gone to centre-back, and that's the position he's most happy in, then obviously he will have to get that quickly. And obviously, Carlo Antielotti's worked with some of the best defenders ever. To play the game, but when you've worked with Nester, and you've worked with Maldini and people like this, and even the likes of John Cherry, Chelsea and Thiago Silva at PSG, the list goes on and on and on. And just looking at him from what he's done, say with somebody like Michael Keane, who was very up and down for everything, he's really settled him down and worked on positional sense and knowing where to be. And I guess if he can do that with Godfrey, then it alleviates some of the doubt. Well, I'm not saying you're not sat there with loads of doubts, but the one area that you said he can improve on, which is whatever we'll be into him for, will be that positional sense. And I think you're absolutely right as well, is that I think Ben Godfrey coming into Everton's defence last season, he just struggled because we had no midfield. So that's why ours was exposed. We lost Ghana, and the fella we bought to replace him got injured. But this season, we've obviously brought Alan in from Napoli, and he's been fabulous so far, but Fabian Delft's fit again now, whatever people think of him, that's a role he does well, and he generally has a little bit more protection. So, you know, and obviously, listen, he's coming into, he's coming into his side, that is going very well at the moment, and two centrebacks who are playing very well. So he's going to have to fight to get in anyway. Well, this is the thing as well. Yeah, this is the thing, it's an exciting deal for everyone involved. For Norwich City, it's a club record fee. It's a lot of money for a championship club. For Ben Godfrey, it's the opportunity to work under a world-class manager for a club fighting at the top end of the table. And just for Everton in general, it's a lot of money they've paid. They've got a young defender, I'm sure his value will rise. I know he's got a very good agent that will help him out with that. It's just win-win. I think when you're a championship club and you see your best players leaving, you'll try and define some kind of anger and dismay at this happening. I'm really struggling with this because we got back up at centre-backs, so that's not the end of the world. This is a player who has gone from York to Everton in the space of four years, who knows where he'll be in another four years. Financially, it's massive, especially during these really tough times for football clubs, and you've got yourselves a really good player. Rarely is there a transfer where it works for all parties, and I think this one does. Yeah, well, hopefully. But I think you're right, it's a lad who's played for England under 20s. He's had five caps for the under 21s. He scored a goal for England as well, the 21s. So it's a lad who's obviously in the England setup and given his physique and his athleticism, it wouldn't be a massive surprise if you played for England going forward as well. It's certainly quite mobile. From Norwich's perspective, obviously you've just touched on it there. It's a big amount of money coming in, which is great. Obviously you can restrengthen and it helps the club. One person who's been mentioned with the loan to Norwich is Jarrod Brantway, who's played a few games for Everton. That's been kind of mentioned again today, that it's not part of this deal, but something that the two clubs might look at going forward. Would that be something you'd welcome? Well, yeah, I mean, you'll probably have to educate me slightly more on the lad. But I think something that Stuart Weber, our sporting director, is very good at is completely maximising all of the possible kind of outcomes from the club in which we're selling to. So if there's the potential of a loan deal thrown in on top of the money, I know you said it's not completely in parallel with the transfer, but I'm sure there's, you know, helping out in a way. So it's really tricky at the moment with Norwich. There's still a couple of weeks left of the transfer window. We've gone a few weeks thinking, oh, my goodness, we're going to keep all of our best players, Godfrey, Buendia, Campwell, and now they're all being linked the way. Godfrey's gone, of course. And now we're thinking we've gone from a squad of, you know, a squad where not everyone can get into starting 11. So can we actually get us starting 11? So there's a real sense of, I wouldn't say uncertainty, but it's tough to plan when players are being linked and maybe not signing for clubs. So, yeah, no, that would definitely interest me and I'm sure it would, Daniel Falk as well. Yeah, he's a good lad. Blanthwaite obviously only played for Premier League games, first on the League Cup game, got an injury out for a few weeks, but she'll be back in a couple of weeks. So I think, especially with obviously this move, Jared's going to find it difficult to get game time at Everton and I think a move to a club like Norwich would be fantastic for him for his education. Left footed, centre-backed, tall, strong, looks really good prospect. So I think he'd do well there. And obviously I was speaking to you the other day and you informed me that Cairn Dahl moved to Norwich out till January, which is a bit of a blow. But obviously to Marl Lewis went out the door, Liverpool had had a bid and got rejected and then strangely Norwich sold into Newcastle, which isn't a massive step up. But there's Max Arons as well, who I think is another cracking, real fantastic, right-back, young, athletic, really good on the board. I mean, I've seen him with Bayern Munich and teams like this. I mean, what's your thoughts on him? Well, it's been a really strange few weeks because you go from getting relegated from the Premier League, shipping a ridiculous amount of goals, hardly picking up any points. We've sold Jamal Lewis for £15 million to Newcastle, mainly because Liverpool were ridiculously tight and weren't willing to cough up the £15 million quid that he's definitely worth. Godfrey's now, of course, gone for the sum he has. So you're looking at £40 million plus for them two players. Max Arons has been linked with Barcelona, like firm links. And I don't think that one's going to happen now. They were looking for an initial loan deal that Norwich weren't willing to accept. So we are batting away Barcelona for a Norwich City defence that simply didn't work. So it's really tough to get your head around. Max Arons is probably the standout of all of these. I think Godfrey's probably got the most potential because of where he plays and just that kind of education he's had. So, yeah, we've got a really interesting couple of weeks ahead. Keep your eye on Max. I think he's Premier League quality. He deserves a move, if anything. Todd Cantwell, you could throw in there as well. I know Scordes and he's got a bit of flair about him. So he'll probably be attracting some big clubs as well. So interesting times. But just happy for Ben Godfrey, really chuffed for him. He's a good lad. He's got a good head on his shoulders, very mature for his age. So I'm just hoping it works out for him. I'm hoping he gets a bit of game time and when he does hit the ground running because I know how ruthless it can be, you know, nearing the top of the Premier League. Yeah, fingers crossed, fingers crossed. Listen, Jack, thank you very much for your insight there. I'm sure Evertonians will be delighted to hear that your views on Ben Godfrey from someone who follows and watches knowledge so is much better equipped than I am to talk about Ben Godfrey. You were pulling out some stats there that I wasn't aware of. No, listen, I've done a little bit of research but you've seen them with your eyes first hand and that's always the biggest thing. But your eyes as well tell the story. So thanks very much, Jack, for taking the time to join us. Make sure if you want to know more about Norwich City, check out Jack's channel talk, Norwich City. Do it, do it because Jack is the man and you'll get your updates on Cair and Dahl as well. Yeah, well, hopefully, thanks very much. Anna, let's not talk about Dahl. That's a sore spot of the moment. But no, thanks so much for having me on. Make sure you give the video a thumbs up. Subscribe if you haven't. And if you want more videos, join us on Patreon. See you later.