By Alex Beard

28th Feb, 2020 | 5:50pm

Report: PL giants could offer player to Everton to sweeten £30m exit of Toffees ace

If there’s one player who Everton don’t want to lose at this moment in time it’s probably young central defender Mason Holgate.

You could make a case for the likes of left back Lucas Digne, and attackers Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

You’d certainly have a decent argument for any of them, but there’s no doubt that Holgate is in that top tier of most valuable Toffees stars.

So the recent transfer talk that has circulated around the 23-year-old will be very concerning indeed for the Goodison faithful.

The Daily Mirror published an interesting report on Thursday night, claiming that Premier League heavyweights Manchester City are after Holgate in a £30million deal.

However, that wasn’t the most fascinating part. The report claims that City could offer centre half John Stones back to his former club as part of any deal to bring Holgate to the Etihad Stadium.

The Englishman’s ability to operate successfully in a few different positions is thought to have impressed City boss Pep Guardiola.

The Blues are keen to hand Holgate a new contract as a reward for his fantastic progress this campaign, but the champions’ interest could throw a spanner in the works.

Would you take Stones in exchange for Holgate?

Absolutely not, no.

Stones simply isn’t the pure defender that Holgate is. It sounds strange to say seeing as Stones plays for City and Holgate for the Toffees, but the Everton star is the better centre back at the moment.

Stones is probably a better footballer, but Holgate is more than competent in that area, so it’s not something that would really worry Guardiola.

For the Merseyside outfit, though, if they want to fulfil their ambitions moving forward, they need to keep players like Holgate.

In other Everton news, the club’s supporters have been reacting to an official injury update on Friday.