An ECHO survey found that more than nine of every 10 respondents wanted Carlos Alcaraz and Idrissa Gueye to remain at the club after their current deals expire
Almost every Everton supporter wants the club to keep two players beyond the summer, an ECHO poll has found.
The Blues face a huge period of transition with 15 of the first team squad on deals that, as it stands, will see them leave the club at the end of the season.
Some of those will stay as extensions are offered and, potentially, clauses in loan deals triggered. But work up to now has focused instead on ensuring Everton are a Premier League club next season, when they move into their state-of-the-art new home on the banks of the River Mersey.
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With Jake O’Brien’s late header securing a draw at Brentford in midweek, those fears have largely been extinguished – though manager David Moyes remained reluctant to celebrate a job well done as he travelled to Abu Dhabi for warm weather training with the players.
It means attention can begin to turn to the squad overhaul this summer and, when the ECHO asked who supporters would like to keep, two players had particularly emphatic responses.
Top of the list was loan signing Carlos Alcaraz, who arrived from Flamengo in the final hours of the January transfer window.
Everton will trigger an obligation to buy the 22-year-old should he start a certain number of games and his early displays have Blues supporters hopeful they will take advantage. Just over 98% of respondents said they wanted to see Alcaraz, who played a match-winning role at Crystal Palace in his first start, to still be on Merseyside next year.
Just behind him was Idrissa Gueye, another player who received overwhelming support for an extension, with 92.5% hoping the Senegal international will extend his second stint at Everton.
Beyond that, Jordan Pickford’s deputy Joao Virginia (78.3%) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (66.8%), a player who has stamped his name into club folklore with his survival-clinching goal against Bournemouth, were both players the majority of supporters hoped would remain.
Club legend Seamus Coleman achieved 54.8% support – with only his injury record likely to have been the reason for that not being higher. The club captain remains a significant influence behind closed doors and a move into the backroom staff would likely be welcomed by most. Jesper Lindstrom, on loan from Napoli, has done just about enough in Moyes’ short tenure for 50.9% to want Everton to trigger their option to buy the winger from Napoli in a deal that would be worth around £20m.
Beyond that, there was still work to be done for the rest of those whose futures are in doubt to convince supporters who responded they should stay. Third-choice goalkeeper Asmir Begovic received the backing of 41.9% but only around one third hoped Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Armando Broja, both of whom have suffered with serious injuries this year, would stay on. Just under one in four wanted Leeds United loanee Jack Harrison to get a third season with the club while Ashley Young and Michael Keane, two players who were among the club’s best performers under Sean Dyche earlier in the season, received even less support.
One big winner in the poll was Orel Mangala, whose season ended with ligament damage suffered at Brighton and Hove Albion in January. He was signed on loan from Lyon and there is no option to make it a permanent move. But 73.2% of the Blues who responded to the poll were impressed enough with what they saw of him to hope Everton can bring him back.
Neal Maupay was not included as his loan deal contains an obligation for Marseille to make the move permanent in the summer, while Mason Holgate – on loan at West Bromwich Albion – has spoken of his desire to find a new home in the summer.
