David Moyes spoke about the futures of four of his players in his pre-match press conference to preview Everton's trip to Tottenham Hotspur
Everton manager David Moyes
Everton manager David Moyes
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David Moyes has responded to questions about the futures of four Everton players in his pre-match press conference to preview the club's final game of the season at Tottenham Hotspur.
Vitalii Mykolenko’s current four-and-a-half-year contract is due to expire this summer, but reports have suggested there is an option to extend it. Asked about the Ukraine international who has been first-choice left-back since he came to the club, Moyes said: “Yeah, I think we’re very close to something with Myko, yes.”
Another potential free agent is Idrissa Gueye. When the Senegal international penned a new one-year deal last summer, it was announced that there was an option for a further year.
A report in the Athletic now states that the 36-year-old has not made enough Premier League starts (he is on 25 with one game of the season left) to automatically trigger the extension and as such, fresh talks will be needed to resolve his future.
Moyes said of Gueye: “We’ll make an announcement on that when we’re ready to do so.”
The midfielder has missed Everton’s last three matches through injury and in terms of a potential return at Spurs, the Blues boss added: “He’s been on the grass. I would say there’s probably a 50/50 chance that he could be involved.
“We’ll know a bit more once we’ve trained. We’ll see him over the next couple of days. He’s not training with the team at the moment, so that’s where we’re at with him.”
When it comes to the futures of loan pair Tyrique George and Jack Grealish, Moyes said: “We’ve got two players on loan, Tyrique and Jack. Obviously, at the moment, they go back to their clubs and we’ll take it from there.
“As the summer goes on, we’ll decide on what path we’re going to take on both of them. We like Tyrique, obviously we like Jack a lot.
“We’ve not got an answer for you if you’re going to throw me a Jack Grealish question in a minute or two as well. I’ve told you, we’ve enjoyed having Tyrique here, he’s been an excellent boy and he’s work rate and everything has been excellent, so we’re happy with him.”
After helping Everton to arguably their best result of the season, a 1-0 triumph on January 18 at his home city club Aston Villa who had won their previous 11 home games and where he played from the age of six until becoming the first £100million English footballer when moving to the Etihad Stadium in 2021, it was revealed that Grealish had suffered a major injury setback and he has subsequently undergone surgery for a stress fracture in his left foot.
On the matter of the rehabilitation process for both Grealish and Jarrad Branthwaite, who missed eight months of competitive football through injury before returning against Leeds United in January, playing 10 matches, only for his hamstring issues to return when he was forced off late on in the Merseyside derby, Moyes said: “Jarrad is making good progress as you would expect and moving on. Jarrad has certainly got a programme through the summer.
“We’ve looked after Jack all the time since his injury and Jack’s injury is coming on. He’s had quite a bad break in his foot, which has been pinned.
“It’s looking in good order now and the surgeon is speaking very well about it and thinks it’s healing greatly. Normally, a player would go back to their parent club and be looked after from there, but we’ll continue doing our best for Jack.”