According to Phil Kirkbride of the Liverpool Echo, Everton have received ‘tentative enquiries’ for Cuco Martina but no ‘concrete offers’. The 30-year-old has been on the periphery at Goodison Park for some time but can’t find a suitor. Martina was expected to leave last summer before a training ground injury forced him to stay too.
Under Marco Silva, Duncan Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti, the Curacao international has been frozen out of the first-team and forced to play for the u23s. Martina has been included in Everton’s Premier League matchday once this season – 1-1 draw with Manchester United (December 15, 2019) – but he didn’t come off the bench.
Since his 2017-move from Southampton, the right-back has made 28 appearances in all competitions – his last outing came in Everton’s 2-1 defeat to Burnley (March 3, 2018). Martina is currently behind Seamus Coleman and Djibril Sidibe in the pecking order and will be out of contract in July, so it’s hard to see him having a future past 2020.
Everton are keen to cash in on the £35k-per-week defender rather than lose him for nothing in six months, but clubs are understandably reticent making a move for a player without a first-team appearance in nearly two years.