OPINION
Everton need to ship out Jonjoe Kenny as quickly as possible on loan as it would surely give their reported quest to sign Chelsea defender Reece James a boost.
According to Sky Sports, the Toffees are ready to loan out Kenny in order for him to pick up some vital first-team experience, with Schalke, Burnley and Crystal Palace keen on his services.
The broadcaster then added that Marco Silva’s side may still go into the transfer market to find a right-back who can provide Seamus Coleman with better competition.
With Kenny out of the picture, then the Toffees could have a better chance of signing one right-back they’ve already been linked to in the form of Chelsea’s James.
The Sun reported on Friday that Silva was keen to add the 19-year-old Blues flyer to his squad as he believes the defender is capable of holding down a place in a top half Premier team’s starting XI.
However the national newspaper did also point out that the £15m-rated James was wanted by a whole host of clubs including; Burnley, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Leicester City as well as Manchester United.
When you consider this, the Toffees need to have a game plan on how to convince James that his future lies at Goodison Park.
An easy way to do this, is to show him how much playing time he could get with the Toffees if he joined.
With Kenny loaned out, James would know that he is at least second-choice and he would no doubt fancy his chances of leapfrogging Coleman in the club’s pecking order.
James wowed at Wigan in his 2018/19 season while on loan with them, he featured 46 times and was involved in six goals, and he won Man of the Match award (Who Scored) in seven league games.
Also he could fit Silva’s style more so then Coleman.
The 19-year-old is much-more pacier so would allow the Toffees to be more a threat on the counter-attack and his known dribbling skills as well as being a threat from set-pieces would help justify using him ahead of Coleman.
Therefore when you consider James’ quality and the fact getting Kenny out the door quicker could aid the Toffees pursuit, the club should act quickly to give their hunt for the Chelsea flyer a boost.