OPINION
As a player, having been loaned out five times at the age of 24 shows that you have next to no future at your current club – and that is certainly the case with Everton defender Matthew Pennington, who is currently on loan at Ipswich Town.
It just has not materialised for Pennington under various managers at Goodison Park, and he is no doubt starting to recognise that he is no longer an up and coming prospect for the Toffees.
In fact, when he has the likes of Kurt Zouma, Yerry Mina, Michael Keane, Phil Jagielka and Mason Holgate ahead of him in the pecking order for a starting place, any hope of a future on Merseyside seems pretty bleak.
That is why he is on loan at Ipswich this season – a fifth loan spell.
He told TWTD: “I’m 24 now and I’ve been out on loan five times, so I guess it’s getting to the time now where I need to find a club, settle down and kick on. It could be here but I don’t know.”
This is why Marco Silva needs to greenlight the exit of the young enforcer when his temporary stint comes to an end, as there clearly is not any chance of regular game time while he is with Everton.
It is a shame because he no doubt has the talent to do well, but when you have the level of the players ahead of him in the queue, not much more can really be done.
A permanent move away from the club will help him improve his overall displays, as moving from club to club each season is not doing him any good in terms of his development.
He will no will not want to be waiting around for his chance to come, as that could take a while – or it may not even come.