Everton midfielder James Garner's current contract expires at the end of this season and he has reportedly been subject to transfer interest from elsewhere in the Premier League
James Garner has been tipped to remain part of the Everton squad going forward despite his current contract expiring at the end of this season. The midfielder is in the last year of his deal and has reported interest from Premier League rivals.
But Keith Wyness, who was the Blues’ chief executive between 2004-09 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs, told Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast: “I think there’ll be interest. I think right now he’s getting his contract renegotiated.
“But look, Garner has always had a lot of interest. When he left Man United and went on loan to Forest, he was very well thought of there.
“He’s a good player. He’s a very good, honest, decent Premier League player.
“He’s done a lot for David Moyes in terms of versatility and I know that Moyes really rates him, really likes him, and I think James is happy there. His contract will get resolved.
“He’ll be part of the squad going forward. I think everybody knows that James is going to get what he wants anyway. So, I expect him to be longer term at Everton, no problem at all.”
Garner joined Everton from Manchester United for an initial £9million fee on September 1, 2022, a decision that proved unpopular with many high-ranking insiders at Old Trafford who rated him highly.
The Birkenhead-born player has subsequently made 97 appearances for the Blues and scored three goals, including a spectacular long-range effort to clinch the 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion on August 24 in the first Premier League match at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
An article from Football Insider last week claimed Newcastle United scouts “have been making regular checks on Garner, whose contract expires next summer,” adding that Everton “do not want to lose him either on a free next summer or for a cut-price fee in January.”
It was also reported that Garner had signed a four-year deal when he first joined the Blues, that would take him up to 2026.
However, when asked about the prospect of offering a new contract for the player 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.”
As first reported last week, the ECHO understands that there is an option to extend Garner’s deal by a further year, which would negate any fears of potentially losing him for nothing at the end of the current season and that any interest from the Magpies is far from concrete at this stage.
But given how highly the player is rated by the manager and as reward for his progress, it is also understood that talks are progressing on a new long-term contract after both James Tarkowski and Jordan Pickford penned similar extensions last month.