Stoke City are leading the race to sign Everton defender Matthew Pennington, according to the Stoke Sentinel.
The 24-year-old, who made 30 Championship appearances in a season-long loan spell with Ipswich Town last season, has reportedly been on the radar of Wigan Athletic and Derby County [Liverpool Echo].
The newspaper now claims, however, that the Potters are in pole position to land the Englishman, with manager Nathan Jones said to be keen on bringing a defender from a Premier League club into his team’s ranks.
OPINION
Overall, this would be a bad move for Pennington to make if this report is true, given the number of defenders Jones currently has at his disposal. The manager has captain Ryan Shawcross and Danny Batth, as well as 18-year-old rising talent Nathan Collins. Then, the Potters have 20-year-old Harry Soutar whose form on loan at Fleetwood Town earned him a call-up to the Australia national team. Finally, Stoke have Kevin Wimmer, but he – and with Ashley Williams, who will go back to Everton following his loan – are both going to leave at the end of the month. Without them, though, it is clear that if Pennington was to go to Stoke, there is a lot of competition for places at the back. And, at his age, Pennington needs to make sure he gets regular game time. He did that last season at Ipswich and put in some solid performances, and the defender needs to make sure he does that again next term.