A look at some of the big calls Everton face ahead of a year of transition
January brings a new year full of potential for Everton. New owners are in place and the move to the new stadium is on the horizon.
While challenges on the pitch remain, the club will likely end the year in a very different place to how it ended 2024. In order to make the most of the opportunities now available through the stability The Friedkin Group hopes to inspire, some big decisions need to be made. Some of them quite quickly.
Many of them are on the playing side, with 13 of the 25 senior squad currently set to leave the club in the summer. Of those contracted to the Blues, Everton must deal with the complication that foreign clubs can now attempt to offer them a new home for next season.
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But to add to the complexity of the task facing the club, two of the most influential figures at Finch Farm – manager Sean Dyche and director of football Kevin Thelwell – are also on contracts due to end in the summer.
The summer offers a chance for a rebuild at Everton but the amount of change due to unfold also presents a risk. Forward planning will be needed, both to tie down any players the club hopes to retain beyond this season and to prepare lists of targets the Blues hope will be part of their historic first campaign in the new stadium.
This is a process that requires the club to have an idea of what it wants to achieve and the footballing identity it wishes to develop as part of its new dawn. All of this starts with the director of football, making Thelwell’s position perhaps the most important to resolve. With so much to do, and Thelwell already in the process of implementing his own overhaul at Finch Farm and his awareness of the state of the club, the Friedkins may see value in retaining his institutional knowledge during what could be a messy period of transition.
It could also make the decision over Dyche’s future more straightforward. The Blues boss has been handed the backing of the new owners in their opening weeks, with the stability he offers useful as they attempt to get to grips with Everton. There is also respect for the work he has done over recent seasons of turmoil off the pitch. Whatever they decide to do in the dugout, the director of football will be integral to the process, another reason why that position is likely to be the priority.
On the pitch, Jordan Pickford is one of the club’s most important players and a figure contracted beyond this summer. No player has done more to protect Everton’s Premier League status over the last three years and his form this season has been crucial, with penalty saves from Anthony Gordon and Erling Haaland just two standout moments from a list of stops that have saved, and earned, Everton points.
Behind him, both Joao Virginia and Asmir Begovic are currently on contracts set to enter their final six months. Virginia proved an able deputy when called upon last season and Begovic returned in the summer after a season away from Merseyside. Both represent an inexpensive and effective backup team to Pickford, though any decisions over their future will depend on whether Virginia wishes to pursue first-team football and whether Begovic, 37, looks to expand on his growing prominence in punditry and coaching.
At the back, there has been growing interest in Michael Keane ahead of this month, with clubs in Italy and the US among those tracking his situation. The 31-year-old is one of the Blues’ top scorers with his two goals from nine Premier League appearances so far – including his sensational strike in the win at Ipswich Town.
Keane was unfortunate to be the player to drop out of the first team when Jarrad Branthwaite returned from injury and he is trusted by Dyche, who opted to use him over summer signing Jake O’Brien at the start of the campaign. Fellow centre-back Mason Holgate, currently on loan at West Bromwich Albion, is also out of contract in the summer.
Full-back has been the subject of debate this season with Everton having struggled amid injuries and suspension this campaign. Nathan Patterson and Vitali Mykolenko offer options on both flanks going forward but this is an area the club is likely to be keen to strengthen. Decisions will have to be made on whether to extend the contracts of club hero and captain Seamus Coleman, who has struggled with injury but remains a talisman on and off the pitch, and Ashley Young, who has been sure-footed for most of the season.
In the middle of the pitch Abdoulaye Doucoure and Idrissa Gueye both have deals currently due to expire while Orel Mangala will return to parent club Lyon. Doucoure has returned to prominence in recent weeks and Dyche’s decision to move him back into the middle has provided solidity that was missing in the early weeks of the season. Gueye has been in good form and has developed a good relationship with Mangala, who the club may wish to try and secure on a permanent deal based on his impression so far. Should they all depart then James Garner and Tim Iroegbunam, both of whom have been injured since the October international break, would be the options left in the middle.
The right-wing position has been an area the club has focused considerable attention on over recent years with attempts made for Wilfried Gnonto and Jaden Philogene in the summer. Neither came off but Jack Harrison returned on loan from Leeds United. He has enjoyed a run of starts but was withdrawn at half-time in the defeat to Nottingham Forest and, for all his defensive work rate, appears to be low on confidence going forward. Neither he nor the player who replaced him on Sunday, Jesper Lindstrom, have scored so far this season. Lindstrom, currently on loan from Napoli, is hoping to convince Everton to exercise their option to make his switch permanent but has work to do to justify the fee required for that to happen.
A similar option is in place with Chelsea for Armando Broja. Currently on loan from Chelsea, the forward made his first start for Everton against Forest after looking promising across a series of cameos from the bench after recovering from the Achilles injury he arrived with in the summer.
With Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the club’s most important forward, also out of contract, a battle could unfold between them to win the right to lead the Blues into the club’s new home. Both will have to navigate the creative struggles of the side though. Whether Everton would be tempted by an offer for Calvert-Lewin should one emerge this month remains to be seen but both the club and the player have expressed a desire for him to stay until the end of the season.
There is a 14th senior player whose contract is due to expire in the summer, but Neal Maupay’s future is already decided. His loan switch to Marseille includes an obligation for the French side to make it permanent.
Out of contract: Virginia, Begovic, Coleman, Young, Keane, Holgate, Doucoure, Gueye, Calvert-Lewin, Maupay (permanent deal with Marseille agreed as part of current loan).
Loans due to expire: Mangala, Harrison, Lindstrom (option to make permanent), Broja (option to make permanent).
Contracted beyond June 2025: Pickford, Mykolenko, O’Brien, Branthwaite, Tarkowski, Patterson, Garner, Iroegbunam, McNeil, Ndiaye, Beto, Chermiti.
