clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Who should leave Everton in January?

The transfer window re-opens next month, so should the Blues show the door to?

Everton FC v Southampton FC - Premier League
Oumar Niasse has been linked with a January departure from Goodison Park
Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images

In just four days, the fun and games of the transfer window starts all over again, with Everton already linked with countless incomings and outgoings.

After a hugely successful summer of dealings, which saw six high-profile arrivals and more than 20 exits, director of football Marcel Brands has already suggested next month’s window will be a more low-key affair for the Blues.

The Dutchman seems intent, primarily at least, on trimming the fat from a bloated first team squad, so who should he and manager Marco Silva look to get rid of next month?

Permanent Departures

Oumar Niasse - the likeliest member of the senior squad to leave Goodison Park next month, Niasse has not started a Premier League game all season, and the striker is yet to open his goalscoring account this term.

Even when he has played this campaign, there has not been the same free-spirited nature about Niasse that was so evident last year, and with winger Richarlison even now ahead of him in the striking pecking order, the Senegalese is surely on borrowed time.

James McCarthy - rather like Niasse, a move seems best for McCarthy, merely so he can enjoy more game time. An Everton career that started so encouragingly five years ago has been cruelly hampered by constant injuries, and despite returning to training in September following a double leg break, he has not been included in a matchday squad this season.

With Idrissa Gueye and André Gomes forming an imperious partnership in central midfield, Tom Davies continuing to show his promise and Morgan Schneiderlin also seemingly preferred by Silva, it is hard to see McCarthy getting regular first-team football any time soon at Goodison.

He is good enough to play every week in the Premier League, but McCarthy will not enjoy that luxury at the Blues any time soon. A move looks best for the good of his career.

Cenk Tosun - perhaps a harsher inclusion, but Tosun is simply the wrong fit for Silva’ high-octane, fast-paced style of play. No Evertonian could fault his desire or work rate, but in front of goal this campaign he has undeniably toiled; netting just twice in 15 appearances attests to that.

The club may have to take a financial hit on the £27 million they spent on him in last season’s January window, but should seriously entertain any offers that come in for the Turk.

Like McCarthy, Tosun’s career would probably benefit from a move at this stage; being left out of the 18 in Boxing Day’s 5-1 win at Burnley due to a “technical decision” according to Silva, who preferred to pick Niasse for the bench, was a damning indictment of his time at Goodison.

Everton FC v West Ham United - Premier League
It has been a frustrating time for Tosun at Everton
Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

Tyias Browning - now 24, and still mired in the under-23s, it is surely a case of when, rather than if, Browning will leave the club he joined as a 10-year-old, given his contract expires next summer.

Unsuccessful loan spells in the Championship at Preston North End and Sunderland have failed to kick-start Browning’s career, and he is now well overdue a change of scenery.

Brendan Galloway - it feels like a lifetime ago that Galloway burst onto the scene, impressing hugely in the final two games of the 2014/15 season and the early stages of the following campaign.

But Galloway has not played a single first team game for the Blues since Roberto Martinez’s sacking, and made only 10 appearances in two unhappy subsequent loan moves at West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland.

Another whose career has gone horrible stale, it is surely time for Galloway to look for pastures new.

Sunderland v Derby County - Sky Bet Championship
Brendan Galloway had a difficult time at Sunderland last season
Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images

Loanees

Jonjoe Kenny - but only if Everton bring in another right-back. Seamus Coleman has struggled badly for much of this season, but the jury is still out on the inexperienced 21-year-old Kenny, who has both excelled and floundered when given a chance in the first team. He has not made a matchday squad since October, either.

The right flank is an area where Everton badly need surgery, so if the club add reinforcements in Kenny’s position next month, it would make little sense for the youngster to stick around and be third-choice.

Mason Holgate - from playing in all of Everton’s first five league games to also not making a matchday squad since October, Holgate’s season has quickly nosedived.

With the form of fellow central defenders Michael Keane, Kurt Zouma and Yerry Mina, Holgate is likely to have to accept limited, if any, game time in the second half of the season if he stays at Everton. For a player with as much potential as him, he would be better served leaving temporarily to prove himself.

A move to a fellow Premier League club would be ideal, but only if he can be guaranteed regular football.

AFC Bournemouth v Everton FC - Premier League
Holgate has struggled for game time after being a regular at the start of the season
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Kieran Dowell - Dowell completed a loan move to Sheffield United earlier today, which seems a sensible decision for the 21-year-old.

Like Holgate, there is little point in Dowell staying at Goodison for the remainder of the campaign, and will surely be best served with his temporary switch to the Blades.

He has obvious quality, and could yet still prove to be good enough to be an Everton regular in future, but that potential will not materialise without regular first team football. Just two Toffees appearances this season - both in the EFL Cup - tells its own story.