Luke Garbutt joins Wigan Athletic on a half-season loan

Everton left back and former youth England international Luke Garbutt has signed with Championship side Wigan Athletic on loan until January, according to the Blues website.

This will be Garbutt’s fourth loan spell. He has formerly spent time with Cheltenham Town, Colchester United and Fulham. Last season with Fulham he made 25 appearances and scored one goal.

At 23 years old, Garbutt was probably hoping to push the 31-year-old Leighton Baines for playing time at this point in his career, but it hasn’t happened that way. New manager Ronald Koeman has shown an early affinity for using wing backs, which would play right into Garbutt’s strengths, according to a Q&A we did with Fulham blog Cottagers Confidential a few months ago. Still, he finds himself on the outside looking in.

This move is not all that surprising. When the Toffees squad numbers were released two weeks ago, Garbutt was left off the list. It would appear he is lower on the depth chart than the likes of Brendan Galloway, Tyias Browning and certainly Bryan Oviedo.

Garbutt has made 12 appearances for Everton’s senior side, with 10 of them coming during the 2014-15 campaign. At that time, it looked like his break into the first team was imminent. But now, it looks unlikely to happen any time soon.

The left back is the third Everton player to go out on loan this month. Previously, midfielder Conor Grant headed to Ipswich Town and goalkeeper Russell Griffiths went to Cheltenham Town.