Oumar Niasse could be running his contract down at Everton before leaving on a free transfer in July, but may not be the only one.
Cuco Martina is in a similar position to the 29-year-old, having fallen out of favour at Goodison Park, failing to secure a move away in January and having only months remaining on his contract. He could be on his way out in July, so Everton will have to pay another £0.9m in wages.
The 30-year-old has spent three years on Merseyside, making 28 appearances in all competitions since joining from Southampton, but he’s been on the periphery for two years. Martina’s last first-team outing came in Everton’s 2-1 defeat to Burnley (March 3, 2018).
He’s had stints on loan at Stoke City (August 17, 2018 – January 30, 2019) and Feyenoord (January 31, 2019 – June 30, 2019) but didn’t do enough to earn himself a permanent move. Everton had one last chance in January to offload Martina but nothing came of alleged interest on deadline day.
The £35k-per-week defender is behind the likes of Seamus Coleman and Djibril Sidibe in the right-back pecking order. He’s also behind Lucas Digne and Leighton Baines in the left-back pecking order.
Everton could try to save money mutually terminating his contract, but Martina is under no obligation to accept. He could run his deal down until the summer.