Everton recall defender from loan ahead of permanent move

DONE DEAL!

Everton have now confirmed that Cuco Martina will be returning from Stoke City and headed to Feyenoord in the Eredivisie for the rest of the season, with some outlets reporting that this will change to a permanent transfer at the end of the season.

Lucas Digne is suspended and Leighton Baines is injured, so you’ll forgive us for panicking earlier when we saw “Cuco Martina being recalled by Everton”. Alas, while he is being brought back from Stoke City, we won’t be seeing the Curacao defender in blue ever again.

You’ll recall that Everton acquired Martina from Southampton on a free transfer, so even if they accept a single penny from Feyenoord, it will be a profit, and a rather miraculous one at that. Cuco tries hard, and is nominally versatile, but he’s just not that talented.

Nevertheless, Martina was able to eat up some minutes for the Blues last season during a stretch in which both Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman were injured, and for that, we thank him. That said, it’s likely that the lasting image from Cuco’s Everton tenure will be him flailing at Mohamed Salah as the Egyptian scythed through the defense to score a derby goal.

Martina has played over 1,600 minutes for Stoke City this season, notching one assist.

Good luck, Cuco!