Another youngster could leave Everton on loan

Marcel Brands’ mission to trim the Everton squad continues in great earnest, with fringe player Nikola Vlasic still likely to leave the club.

The Croatian youngster had been linked with going to Newcastle on loan earlier in the transfer window, but it appears nothing came of that. However, after the English transfer window closed today, it was revealed that there is interest in the player from Russian side CSKA Moscow.

Vlasic didn’t get much chance to prove his worth to Marco Silva this preseason, with the manager giving him a trial run out at wing for a few games, but oddly didn’t actually try him in his favoured attacking midfield role.

Vlasic is only 20 and still has four years left on his Everton deal after joining the Blues during the ‘Great Shopping Spree of 2017’, and badly needs some gametime to continue his stalled development.

In the 19 games he featured in for the Toffees, he scored twice and put on one assist, showing the tenacity and flashes of skill that led to his signing after Everton came up against Hajduk Split in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League last season.

This also confirms that Silva has chosen Under-23 star Kieran Dowell to be the understudy for Gylfi Sigurdsson in the #10 role, though new signing Bernard can play there as well.