Speaking on the All Together Now podcast, Tony Scott has slammed the decision made by Everton to release Jonjoe Kenny.
The Toffees recently revealed their retained list for the upcoming season, which included the likes of Fabian Delph, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Cenk Tosun and academy graduate Kenny, who was afforded 11 league appearances under Frank Lampard.
Despite his versatility of being able to play at left and right-back, as well as part of a back three, that was still clearly not enough for him to either be guaranteed enough minutes or handed a suitable contract for him, which now sees him look at the free-agent market.
Scott believes this was a very poor decision by Everton to release Kenny, saying: “He isn’t the best footballer, he isn’t at this level, but what he is is backup to play in the back four, so to speak, in terms of a third-choice right-back.
Should Everton have kept Kenny?
Yes!
No!
“Everton now, with no Jonjoe Kenny, go into a Premier League season with a way, way past-it Seamus Coleman and Nathan Patterson, who’s hardly kicked a ball for us, totally unproven in the Premier League. And now what?
“So we’ve got to go and replace him. It’s all well and good saying, ‘he won’t be missed’ and all this, well, I’m sorry, but he will – and this is what’s going to kill us.”
TIF Thoughts on Kenny leaving Everton…
Kenny had never been a regular or consistent player for Everton, however, as Scott mentioned, he was a very reliable and decent third-choice right-back to have at the club, and he also knew what it meant to pull on the blue shirt having come through the academy.
Considering that Everton are already facing tough Financial Fair Play regulations once again this transfer window, the only reason why Kenny has now departed the club can surely be because he wanted more regular game time, because if it’s a decision from the club, that makes very little financial sense as they would presumably now have to go out and sign a replacement.