Unai Emery spoke about Jaden Philogene last week before Everton came back in for Aston Villa winger
Everton have made a move for Jaden Philogene after Aston Villa manager Unai Emery had his say on the winger last week. The Blues were in the hunt for 22-year-old last summer after he netted 12 goals in 32 Championship games for Hull City.
Philogene’s agent photographed himself at Everton’s Finch Farm training complex and club insiders believed the player was keen to move to Goodison Park but Villa activated their buy-back clause for him to return to the West Midlands. The Londoner has made 15 appearances for Villa this term but has only completed 90 minutes in the Premier League once.
Philogene had been earmarked for a loan this month but Everton have used up their two domestic loan slots on Leeds United’s Jack Harrison and Chelsea’s Armando Broja, so they are understood to again be pursuing a permanent move for the England Under-21 international.
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Birmingham Live quote Emery as saying: “He has a potential and he didn’t show his potential in the first six months being with us. He played some important matches, against Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
“At that moment he was more or less given the opportunity to show his progress. He didn’t do it clearly and was playing less, but I believe in his potential.
“It (a loan) is one option for him and the club because there are lots of clubs interested in him. They believe in his potential.
“We are not close [to agreeing a loan] and as a coach I am not really wanting to let him leave, but we are speaking about the different options. Maybe it could be an option [loan].
“My conversation was always to be patient, take time to improve things. The adaptation is going slower than we wanted, but still in my mind the objective is to improve and help us here. Now it is January, it could be an option for him and the squad to let him leave.”
