Everton are reportedly interested in signing Kalvin Phillips on a season-long loan from Manchester City while also bringing Jack Harrison back to Goodison Park for another year.
Harrison spent this past season on loan with the Toffees and Sean Dyche, who is said to be a huge admirer of the winger, is keen to have him back as the Club begin their preparations for 2024-25 but on a severely limited budget.
With the seemingly interminable 777 Partners takeover saga likey to end this Friday but no other buyers ready to step immediately into the breach, and the final phase of construction of the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock Everton still to be funded, Everton face a continuing cash crunch.
That will see Dyche and Director of Football, Kevin Thelwell, working extensively in the loan and free-transfer market in the close season and they appear to have pinpointed Phillips and Harrison as key early targets.
With Leeds United having failed to gain promotion back to the Premier League, there appears to be a greater chance that Harrison would be allowed to leave on loan again this coming season. The Stoke-born player made 36 appearances for Everton despite not really being able to recapture the form that made him a stand-out at Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa.
Phillips, meanwhile, is surplus to requirements at City where he has been a peripheral figure since failing to make the grade for Pep Guardiola following a £42m move, also from Leeds, two years ago.
He spent the second half of this season at West Ham where he made eight Premier League starts before dropping to the bench and then out of David Moyes’s matchday squads entirely.
According to a number of reports today, including from Sky Sports, The Athletic, and BBC Sport, the Blues want to rescue him from his difficult spell at City and sign him on loan for the next year.