Surprise name among list of released Everton players

Everton have confirmed their retained list ahead of next season with a mix of surprise and expected names on the list of players who are to be released at the end of their contracts.

Sylvain Distin and Antolin Alcaraz - as we all knew - have not been retained and will leave on free transfers at the end of the month.

Christian Atsu, Aaron Lennon and David Henen have all returned to their parent clubs following loan spells at Goodison Park.

Everton also confirmed that Luke Garbutt has been offered a new contract, though that offer has reportedly been on the table for some time.

The surprise name among those released is youngster George Green, who was tipped for great things when he joined as a youngster from Bradford in a deal worth around £300,000 in 2012. He has failed to do enough though to persuade Roberto Martinez that he is worthy of a new deal.

Green, Curtis Langton, John Lundstram and Ben McLaughlin are the players from the under-21 squad who will be released on June 30. Courtney Duffus, Conor Grant, Gethin Jones, Chris Long and Matthew Pennington meanwhile have been offered new contracts.

In the under-18 squad James Graham, Mateusz Hewelt, Antonee Robinson and Jordan Thorniley have been offered their first professional contracts while  Arlen Birch, Charley Edge and George Newell will leave the club later this month.