Reserve goalkeeper Joao Virginia is set to complete his 6th season with Everton — but it could well be his last — his latest contract extension is set to expire in June 2025.
Joao Virginia has now been at the club since Everton signed the Arsenal U18s goalkeeper for an undisclosed fee in August 2018.
That makes him one of the longest-serving players in the current squad, but he has only made 8 appearances in total after being second fiddle and understudy to Jordan Pickford.
However, his tenure could be coming to an end with Virginia ‘exploring options’ as his contract expires this summer.
In Janauary, Joao Virginia spoke to A Bola about his future with the Toffees.
“It’s not the ideal situation. Of course I want to play. And the more you play, the better,” he said.
“These are my last six months, but the club has an option to renew. He has already talked about renewing beyond this year, but nothing has come of it, nothing has been concrete. And I’m still alone with my last months.
“I can’t take anything definitively, there is an option for Everton to be activated until the end of the season. Until then I can’t decide anything. And I feel very comfortable at Everton, I like being here, I like being in the Premier League.”
While used only sparingly during his long spell at Everton, Virginia has had 3 loan spells, the more recent one at SC Cambuur of the Dutch Eredivisie in 2022-23 giving him the most consistent spell of 17 first-team appearances.
But his record between the sticks for them was not great, with only 2 wins, 3 draws and 12 losses in that sequence (Goals For: 9; Goals Against: 28; Clean Sheets: 4), which was ended prematurely after he was dropped for the rest of the season in January 2023.
Speaking more recently to Estadio Deportivo, Virginia has talked about his role at Everton that involves a lot of sitting on the bench.
“As a player, my ambition isn’t to be a second choice for long, but that’s the reality I have at Everton. What I have to do is work every day and push Pickford to be better as well.”
Whether he remains at the club to do that next season is open to conjecture, with a significant number of the squad in similar positions of uncertainty, their contracts expiring or loan spells coming to an end in June 2025
“I think the most important thing now is playing time. With minutes comes experience. So, the most important thing now will be playing, and I think that’s the point that will take me to another level.”
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