Everton leadership predictably vague on winger’s future

For some reason when the headline from the Liverpool Echo told me that Marcel Brand’s plans for extremely talented winger Henry Onyekuru had become “clear,” I believed them. Here I was having already agreed to write a reaction to the news, but it didn’t take long to see the article itself gave me very little to work with.

There is no quote from Brands in the piece, and the quote from Marco Silva is a throwaway. Here is what they say about Brands, whose plans have according to the headline been become clear:

Everton’s director of football Marcel Brands has yet to watch Onyekuru, who played in the Europa League against Benfica last night, in the flesh but members of his new-look scouting team have done so.

And in total, the Blues’ transfer chief and his recruitment department have cast an eye over the young forward live and on television, 12 times this season.

Oh, he’s watched the player, has he? Well, that clears up exactly what he plans on doing with the player, sure. Then they move to Marco Silva, who essentially says that they are watching Henry the way they watch all their loan players and they will make a decision on him in the summer.

The work permit situation for Onyekuru is still in progress, so it is not even apparent whether that will be sorted such that Silva can make a decision whether to utilize him next year. After telling us in the headline that Brands’ plans for the winger were becoming clear, the Echo made sure to tell us:

It remains unclear if Onyekuru, work permit permitting, will feature in Silva’s plans over the long-term

This is apparently the new definition of a player’s future becoming “clear”. “Work permit permitting” it remains “unclear”. Unclear.

There’s no doubt that Onyekuru is a talented player. He is third in the Turkish Super Lig in scoring and is still only 21 years old. Making a profit on him if Everton decided to sell should be fairly easy, especially if his English work permit can get sorted out, but ideally I would like to see him in the Everton side for years to come.

Unfortunately, at this point, it is extremely unclear whether that will be able to happen, and Brands and Silva, contrary to some reports, have given us no insight as to whether that will change any time soon.