The premier league is back Monday, and as expected (and desperately needed!) a lot of Everton fans are focused on the business Everton could conduct to help improve the current situation, mot needed being in the top end of the pitch in the attacking department. However January is also a window where there are already question marks over potential outgoings for the Toffees, so who could be going out the door as appose to coming through it?
Salomón Rondón
One outgoing already confirmed for Everton is Venezuelan striker Salomon Rondon, as both have agreed to a mutual termination of his current deal which was due to expire in the summer. Rondon has hardly played this season getting just the 104 minutes under his belt this season, with only one start. Rondon hasn’t been in the Everton squad since he was an unused substitute in the 3-0 against Crystal Palace at Goodison Park back in October. The departure was a necessary one, Rondon was poor and clearly past his best, brought in under the Spanish bloke we last had as manager in the summer of 2021. He netted 3 times in 31 appearances, with 2 of them coming against Boreham Wood in the FA Cup last season.
Everton intend on signing 2 attacking players in January, so with Rondon already struggling to make the match day squads it’s good that the club can get his wages off the books (although we don’t know the payoff situation).
Michael Keane
Michael Keane looks set to also be leaving Everton in the January window, as reported by a few now it seems Keane will be available to clubs on a loan deal until the end of the season. Again like Rondon, it’s a move that both player & club need, as Keane has only made the single appearance in the PL this season, that being a 22 minute cameo away at Brentford coming on for the injured Mason Holgate. Keane’s had a rough 18 months, despite a sort of resurgence under Carlo Ancelotti in glimpses due to it being a play style that suited him more, Keane has struggled since his exit. He’s now seemingly last choice in the centre back department under Frank Lampard, on top of the additions of Coady & Tarkowski, he’s seemingly still behind Mina, Godfrey & Holgate in the pecking order.
Ideally this would be a permanent move for Keane, I think it’s pretty obvious at this stage that Keanes Everton career is pretty much over, however January is a scarce market & buyers could be few & far between. Everton’s best hope is that Keane impresses on loan wherever he goes 7 the club can recoup a fee for him in the summer, with PL clubs such as West Ham & Leicester supposedly circling.
Yerry Mina
Just feels like such an unfortunate waste with Mina, he’s our best CB, but the constant frustration through little injuries here & there tied in with his huge wage demand for a bottom half PL club makes it unthinkable that Everton will renew his current deal with expires in the summer. Therefore you’d imagine Everton would be willing to let Mina go in the January window, whether there would be interest in this window is another thing. It’s a difficult player to get a deal for in current circumstance, the current injury record & high wage added in to the fact he is a free agent in the summer complicates any sort of deal. Everton could (and probably are) offering him the chance to leave on a free, but you’d imagine any interested party won’t match his immediate Everton wage, meaning Mina would more than likely want some sort of pay off in fulfilment of his Everton contract.
Everton certainly have enough cover for Mina & Keane to leave, with Coady, Tarkowski, Holgate & now Ben Godfrey back to full fitness, the only thing that depth number could be affected by is a potential return to a 3 at the back formation, where then you’d possibly be sweating over player fitness a bit more.
Abdoulaye Doucoure & Tom Davies
I’ve merged Davies & Doucoure in to one here really, as I think if one leaves the other can’t for squad depth reasoning. In the central midfielder department Everton have brought back Idrissa Gana Gueye in addition to summer signings of younger talent James Garner & Amadou Onana with Alex Iwobi also now capable of playing flat CM (ideally he doesn’t!!!). So there is probably room for Everton to get a central midfielder off the books who isn’t exactly vital to the cause. Both Doucoure & Davies have contracts due up in the summer at finch farm, and whilst Doucoure has a club option to extend by a further year, it doesn’t sound like the club are hot on the idea of doing so as of yet.
When Doucoure first came to Everton under Carlo Ancelotti, he was an instant fan favourites with his Energy with the ball & also winning it back in the same way, he had a superb start to the 21/22 season but then once coming back from a couple injuries with slight roles changes never really rediscovered that form. Since the new additions have come in Doucoure’s hardly had a kick in the PL for Everton, feeding off minutes here and there from the bench
Tom Davies was someone who, to quote Micah Richards, ‘Burst on to the scene’ in an Everton shirt under Ronald Koeman. He has since Captained his boyhood club & gone on to make 167 appearances for the Everton first team, however his career is now at its first cross roads, Davies recently admitted he wants to play in an article with the athletic. The likelihood of Tom Davies getting substantial playing time at Everton in the coming years is small, as Everton watch the progress of Onana & Garner develop with also high hopes for academy graduate Isaac Price (more on him later). It may be best for Davies to finally get a move and start playing football regularly for the sake of his own career. Whether that departure can come 6 months early is yet to be seen with limited interest being reported so far, unlike for Doucoure, who has been linked to former Everton manager Marco Silva at Fulham.
In terms of finance Doucoure is the higher wage, so if Everton moved Doucoure & kept Davies then they’d be making financial saving and also keeping enough for depth, it’s a big decision for squad players on the fringes of the first 11.
Loans for the 21’s
There are a number of players in the U21 team that could use a loan, it’s made tricky by Everton first team situations, but a good number need that loan now as they won’t get enough beneficial minutes for the first team, and also seem far too comfortable at U21 level. The players I feel need that loan are Reece Welch, Stan Mills, Tom Cannon & Isaac Price, these are four players Everton have high hopes for and could really benefit from a level of men’s first team football consistently.
It’s made sticky perhaps by Everton’s lack of forward options, and also James Garner’s back injury which is set to keep him out until February. This impacts the likes of Mills, Cannon & Price, however Reece Welch should have the greenlight to go out and get some minutes pretty early on in this January window.
Hopefully Everton get the attacking reinforcements they need in Jan, meaning Cannon & Mills can go out and get some first team minutes under their belt, because both are flying at U21 level and could now benefit from a step up in quality to help their development further.
Prices situation gets a bit tricky, as mentioned above Garners Injury puts a spanner in the works with also interest in Doucoure, Price got minutes out I Australia playing that centre mid role in the absence of Gana, Onana, Garner & Iwobi. Personally he’s one I hope also heads out on a beneficial loan to get some solid minutes under his belt. I think it’s a waste of prices year to be sat round waiting in case of injury to the first team.
@Danny_EFC6
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