LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - JANUARY 02: Everton players Abdoulaye Doucouré, Michael Keane, Séamus Coleman, Allan, Mason Holgate and Demarai Gray join in with a minute of applause before the Premier League match between Everton and Brighton & Hove Albion at Goodison Park on January 2, 2022 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Everton transfer news as Niels Nkounkou speaks out after thriving on loan at Saint-Etienne.
Niels Nkounkou has admitted he’s unsure about what the future holds for him beyond the end of the season.
The defender has spent the entire 2022-23 campaign on loan away from Everton. He made 18 appearances for Championship side Cardiff City during the first half of the season but registered only one assist. However, after joining Saint-Etienne in January, Nkounkou thrived. He recorded six goals and eight assists in 19 games which saw him nominated for Ligue 2 Player of the Year.
Speaking at the Union Nationale des Footballers Professionels ceremony (as per Foot-sur 7), Nkounkou has his sights set on playing in the top flight of a division in 2023-24. However, having spent the past two years away from Goodison Park – having been loaned to Standard Liege in 2021-22 – the former France under-19 international does want to settle down somewhere.
Nkounkou said: “Playing in the first division of a major championship is the ambition of always. We will talk about it quietly at the end of the season. We will discuss it with my agents, and my family to find out how it will happen and afterward, I have no particular objectives for the future.
“I want a lot of things for my future. Stability to begin with, because I moved around a lot. Staying in Saint-Etienne can be a very good solution too. This club should not be neglected. We will see after what I can have more.”
Nkounkou joined Everton from Marseille in 2020 and has made seven outings to date. The 22-year-old has two years remaining on his current Goodison Park contract.
However, it is reported that Saint-Etienne holds the option to purchase Nkounkou on a permanent basis – and they will immediately sell him for a profit.
READ MORE:
£25m Everton player who Liverpool ‘wanted to sign’ eyes summer transfer
Everton transfer news as Jean-Philippe Gbamin’s agent speaks out on his future.
Jean-Philippe Gbamin is keen to return to leave Everton this summer and return to Germany.
The midfielder has endured a woeful time at Goodison Park since arriving from Mainz for £25 million in 2019. Gbamin has made just nine appearances for the Toffees in total, having suffered several injury problems.
He spent the 2022-23 season on loan at Turkish side Trabzonspor but has fallen down the pecking order of late.
Gbamin has a year remaining on his current Everton deal. But his agent Bernard Collignon – who claimed Liverpool and Arsenal were previously keen on the Ivory Coast international – has reaffirmed that Gbamin will leave the club in the upcoming transfer window.
He told the BBC: “We will have to find another project for him. I am the one who chose Everton for him because it would have been a stepping stone to move on elsewhere.
“There was interest from Arsenal, Tottenham and even Jurgen Klopp wanted to sign him for Liverpool six months before but now Jean-Philippe wants to go back to Germany.
“It is unbelievable what has happened at Everton. “Jean-Philippe is so disappointed with everything that has happened and how things have not worked out for him.
“The reason he suffered his initial injury was because he was not fit. That is why he got injured. They had to give him time and not rush him back into action.
“The club should have let him play in reserve games to achieve full fitness and also to gain confidence so that he would be ready for the intensity of the Premier League.”
