Who could be next on the list after James Tarkowski became the latest player to sign a new contract with Everton
James Tarkowski has become the latest player to sign a new contract with Everton. But who could be next on the list?
The news that the 32-year-old had penned a two-year extension to commit his future to the Blues through to the summer of 2028 was announced at noon on Wednesday. Tarkowski has become a key figure at Everton since joining on a Bosman-style free transfer in 2022 when he became a free agent at Burnley.
Tarkowski hasn’t missed a minute of the Blues' nine matches in all competitions so far this term having returned from surgery on a hamstring injured suffering against Manchester City on April 19, which ended his sequence of 109 consecutive starts for the club in the Premier League.
The run included the unbridled scenes of celebration after the Mancunian scored a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser against Liverpool with the last kick of a ball from a home player to ensure the Blues did not leave Goodison Park with a losing record against their neighbours after more than 130 years of Merseyside Derby combat.
On penning his deal, Tarkowski said: “I’m super excited and proud to be an Everton player and to continue this journey. It’s been a crazy few years with some big lows and some massive highs.
“We’ve managed to get through those tough times and hopefully now we’re on to more positive and exciting times ahead. I think the intention has been set out from the start of this season.
“I’ve loved every minute so far of working under the manager [David Moyes]. He has made it clear where we're going with this club. The results and performances have really improved in his time here and it does seem to be going in one direction.
“The reason I’ve signed is because I want to be a part of that. Now it’s up to us as players to get on board and take us in that direction.”
Although the vice-captain, who regularly wears the armband in Seamus Coleman’s absence, has struggled for form at times this season since returning to fitness – with his centre-back partner Michael Keane widely regarded as being Everton’s most consistent defensive performer so far in 2025/26 – it’s understood that Moyes wants to build his new-look team around the solid base at that back of Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite and Jordan Pickford.
Branthwaite, who hasn’t kicked a ball all season after playing in the first two friendlies at Accrington Stanley and Blackburn Rovers, missing the Premier League Summer Series in the USA and then picking up a hamstring injury in the inaugural first team game in front of fans at Hill Dickinson Stadium against Roma, has already signed a new five-year deal at the start of July.
The 23-year-old said: “I’ve been at Everton for five-and-a-half years now and I've seen the change the club has had over the past six months. It’s very exciting for us as a team, as players, to have that going on in the background and obviously to be starting the new season at the new stadium.”
So, who could be next? Well, when the Tarkowski extension was announced, Paul Joyce of The Times reported: “Deals expected to follow shortly for Jordan Pickford and James Garner.”
As first reported by the ECHO’s Joe Thomas on September 5, Pickford is understood to be open to the idea of penning a long-term deal on the right terms and getting the England number one, whose existing contract runs until 2027, to effectively commit himself to Everton for the rest of his career would represent another major coup. The 31-year-old, who first became a regular at Sunderland under Moyes, has been undisputed first choice for his country for almost eight years now and has arguably done more than any other individual player in that time to ensure the Blues safely arrived at Hill Dickinson Stadium as a Premier League club.
Despite the team’s struggles in recent seasons, Pickford, who played European football with Everton during his first season in 2017/18, has long been settled in the area with his family and is expected to be happy to strike a deal that ensures he remains on Merseyside until he hangs up his gloves. Like Tarkowski before his extension, Garner’s current contract is due to expire next summer having been billed as a four-year deal when he signed for an initial £9million from Manchester United in September 2022.
However, when asked about the prospect of offering a new contract for Garner if he was now in the final 12 months in his pre-match press conference to preview the game against Aston Villa on September 13, Moyes said: “I don’t know if he’s in the last year of his contract. I’m sure there will be a clause in there where we’ve got him so, I couldn’t even answer that question.”
The Blues boss then turned to head of media Andy Neild who accompanies him at all press functions, who remarked: “We don’t go into clauses.”
If the Birkenhead-born player does pen a new deal, then it will be a reward for the important role he is now fulfilling in Moyes’ squad.
The manager has namechecked the 24-year-old on several occasions this term to praise his form, and Garner has proven himself to be a versatile performer by not just operating in his preferred central midfield role but both full-back positions, starting at left-back against Leeds United, Brighton & Hove Albion – when he scored in Everton’s first competitive game at Hill Dickinson Stadium – and Aston Villa, while he moved to right-back for the final 25 minutes of the 2-1 comeback victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday when Jake O’Brien switched to central defence after Keane withdrew through injury.
Vitalii Mykolenko, the man who Garner has deputised for on a trio of occasions so far this term when the Ukraine international has been injured, is also coming to the end of his current deal at the end of this season.
Although question marks remain over whether the 26-year-old has the requisite quality to continue as first choice left-back on a longer-term basis, given that he has been a regular since Rafael Benitez signed him from Dynamo Kyiv in January 2022 after falling out with Lucas Digne, and the fact that the Blues splashed out over £17million on his services, you would expect them to offer him a new contract if only to protect the value of their asset.
The one-year contract extension that Idrissa Gueye signed in July has an option for a further year, but the terms of that agreement are not disclosed publicly. Keane also penned a new one-year deal that month and given his recent form, it looks likely that he will be invited to continue his Everton career into a 10th season in 2026/27.
Coleman is now just one game away from joining Dixie Dean and Leon Osman in the top-10 on the list of the club’s all-time appearances, but while Moyes considers his club captain as an integral figure within the dressing room, discussions over whether he will carry on playing for them next season are likely to be held back until later in the campaign. There is also an issue to resolve over home-grown goalkeeper Harry Tyrer whose current deal expires next summer.
The 23-year-old from Crosby has been with Everton since he was seven years old and played in their opening pre-season friendly at Accrington Stanley on July 15. However, after having loan spells at Chester FC, Chesterfield and Blackpool over the previous three seasons, clocking up 140 senior games of experience, he currently finds himself as fourth choice after the signings of Mark Travers from Bournemouth and Tom King from Wolverhampton Wanderers.