Ruben Vinagre has played his final game for Everton as latest injury update emerges
Ruben Vinagre’s Everton career is surely over after it was revealed he is suffering from a long-term achilles injury ahead of the clash with Crystal Palace.
The Toffees defender is currently at the club on a season-long loan from Sporting CP in his native Portugal, but has found himself way down the pecking order for the entire campaign thus far.
Vinagre has played just 24 minutes in the Premier League this season, with his only two starts coming in the Carabao Cup games before Everton were eliminated.
But now Vinagre is dealing with an achilles problem that could require surgery, with Sean Dyche revealing that a decision is imminent from the medical team during his pre-match press conference on Thursday (20 April) ahead of the Palace clash.
“He’s got an injury unfortunately that’s going to keep him out for some time,” he said.
“It may need surgery, we’re not sure yet. He’s seeing a specialist but that decision will be made pretty imminently I would think.”
That came after Dyche initially forgot to mention Vinagre’s injury issues when asked for team news ahead of the game, where he gave an update on all of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Amadou Onana and Seamus Coleman.
As if it wasn’t already clear and obvious considering the fact he hasn’t even touched the pitch since Dyche has been manager, Vinagre isn’t in the long-term plans at Goodison Park.
His loan will come to an end once the season finishes up, and it now seems all but certain that he won’t be pulling on the famous blue shirt ever again.
Should he require surgery he is likely to miss the rest of the season, and even if he recovers before the final game it’s unlikely that he’d suddenly pop ahead of the likes of Vitalii Mykolenko and Ben Godfrey in the pecking order anyway.
It was arguably the most pointless transfer in the history of the club, and Vinagre’s Everton career will come to a quiet end now without him putting the shirt on again.