Everton are said to be doing their utmost to get Vitalii Mykolenko tied down to a new contract.
The Ukraine international currently stands to leave the Hill Dickinson Stadium as a free agent at the end of the season.
Is this genuinely realistic…🤔
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That would bring to an end a four-and-a-half year spell at the club.
In recent times, Vitalii Mykolenko has struggled to endear himself to the Everton faithful for a perceived lack of quality and consistency.
But seemingly, those at the club would be more than happy to get him signed up to a new contract.
Everton are trying hard to extend Vitalii Mykolenko’s contract
According to a report from TEAMtalk, Everton are now ‘feverishly’ trying to extend Mykolenko’s contract.
The 26-year-old has supposedly been in talks with the club for months but so far, there has been no breakthrough.
Vitalii Mykolenko taking a throw in for Everton.
Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images
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Mykolenko, of course, has been very much in favour with David Moyes since the Scot came back to the club for a second spell. So he may well be behind this feverish bid to keep the player.
Mykolenko has made 45 appearances for Everton so far under Moyes. This makes him one of the most used players of the second Moyes stint (behind Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski, James Garner, Jake O’Brien and Iliman Ndiaye).
Although he hasn’t really shone in the eyes of a lot of supporters, he’s certainly had plenty of faith from his manager.
Everton need Mykolenko upgrade regardless of contract talks outcome
Whatever happens with the talks with Mykolenko, Everton do need to be upgrading on the Ukrainian.
He obviously has a vast amount of Premier League experience which Moyes will no doubt value highly.
But ultimately, full-backs these days need to be chipping in more in the final third. Mykolenko – who has previously had interest from Galatasaray – very rarely assists or scores, so it would be in Everton’s best interests to search for someone who can bring those things.
He could yet stick around. But if that is to be the case, Everton should still be looking to upgrade on him.
And certainly, if Everton play in a European competition next season there will need to be signings made for both of the full-back positions.
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