Everton transfer update emerges after unwanted Michael Keane and Mason Holgate put up for exit
Everton are looking to offload Michael Keane and Mason Holgate before the transfer deadline but nobody seems to want them, i News reports.
According to the outlet’s website on 12 August the market is slow and clubs have shown “precious little interest” in the pair of defenders who are surplus to requirements at Goodison Park.
Jake O’Brien’s arrival has pushed the pair further down the centre-back pecking order, despite the exit of Ben Godfrey to Atalanta.
With Sean Dyche now only able to pursue loans for the rest of the window there is a need to shift some players out.
But as with striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin that is currently proving impossible, with the striker’s continued presence blocking a move for Chelsea’s Armando Broja who wants to join.
Jake O’Brien signing pushes Everton defenders towards exit
In contrast to Calvert-Lewin, who the club would surely prefer to keep if he was willing to sign an extension to his contract, Keane and Holgate have looked primed to move on for a year or more.
James Tarkowski’s arrival and the emergence of star man Jarrad Branthwaite locked up the starting spots and O’Brien has now entered that rotation.
If the Toffees are able to cling onto Branthwaite past the deadline, against the threat of financial pressure at Goodison after the takeover collapse and any further late bids from Manchester United or other interested parties, there is unlikely to be many minutes going spare in the centre of Dyche’s defence.
So it would likely be in the two peripheral defenders’ interests to find greater opportunities elsewhere.
But if there aren’t takers then there won’t be a huge amount that they or the club can do, which would be a frustration when space on the wage bill could be used for further recruits.
There was reported interest in Keane, 31, from Besiktas earlier this year [Sabah, 2 February] but that appears to have evaporated.
Holgate found loan interest from Southampton and Sheffield United last term but neither move was especially fruitful and the two clubs haven’t looked to bring him back permanently.
In other Everton news, the Toffees have been left “scratching their heads” at a £50million-plus transfer development which has now been confirmed.
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