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Opinion: Everton signing £10m defender would be bad news for 23 y/o

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Everton have been linked with a move for Bouna Sarr and may have to pay £10m to procure his signature – Djibril Sidibe may not be signed permanently this summer, so he could return to AS Monaco after his loan spell. But if Everton bring Sarr to Goodison Park as his replacement, that may spell disaster for Jonjoe Kenny’s hopes of re-joining the first-team next season.

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Kenny rose through the youth ranks to the first-team in 2017 and has gone on to make 40 appearances in all competitions. The 23-year-old embarked upon loans move to Wigan Athletic (July 21, 2015 – September 20, 2015) and Oxford United (January 27, 2016 – May 9, 2016) after struggling for playing time in his early years at Everton, but his stock rose after joining Schalke 04 last summer.

In 2018/19, Kenny made 15 appearances across the board for Everton, amassing 1,240 minutes of playing time. He started only eight league games and spent the majority of the season behind Seamus Coleman in the pecking order, so he sought a loan move away from Goodison Park. Schalke came knocking and Kenny has since turned his career around.

The former England u21 international has made 26 appearances in all competitions, contributing four goals. As per WhoScored, Kenny amassed 2,053 of Bundesliga football before the season was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, creating 13 chances, completing 74% of his 916 passes, winning 25 aerial duels (46%), whipping in 49 crosses with 24.5% accuracy, making eight successful dribbles (53.3%), blocking 34 shots/crosses/passes, making 59 clearances, giving away 20 fouls and averaging a tackle (34) or interception (19) every 39 minutes.

He’s impressed in Germany and has a chance of getting first-team football at Everton next season if Carlo Ancelotti doesn’t bring in extra competition. Kenny has more than two years remaining on his deal, but he may not want to stay if Coleman and Sarr are ahead of him.

Read Crippy Cooke’s previous article

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Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.