Season › 2018-19 › News
Jagielka will leave Everton this summer
The 36-year-old announced the news on Instragram this afternoon after he was informed by Everton that they would not be offering him a new deal.
Jagielka, who signed from Sheffield United for £4m in 2007, has played 385 times for the Blues and has been the club captain for the past few seasons while also representing England in the 2014 World Cup Finals.
It's been hard to confirm my situation for next season as that decision hadn't been fully made by the club until now. Unfortunately my journey at Everton has come to an end after 12 fantastic seasons. I have been lucky enough to play over 380 games and lucky enough to be club captain for 6 years.
All I can say is thanks to all the players I've played along side, all the staff that have helped me in their own way, the Chairman and of course the amazing fans. Wishing everyone associated with this special club the very best for the future! COYB
Instragram | @pjags06
The Manchester-born centre-half has been linked with a return to Sheffield to help the Blades in their bid to stay in the Premier League next season following their promotion from the Championship.
Reader Comments (93)
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2 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:18:17
Thank you Jags, hopefully you get to finish business at Sheffield United next season and get a great reception on your return.
3 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:31:09
4 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:31:26
I'm with you, another long serving player that gave his all but sadly never managed to lift a trophy.
I respect Jags as a fella, top guy and good professional and at his peak an absolutely immensely good defender, memories of the Jags/Lescott then Distin partnership will always be fondly remembered.
Feel sad that he missed out on that FA Cup Final in 2009 and a decade later that chance never came about again which serves as a reminder that this club has grossly underperformed.
Will always remember that Kop End beauty as an abiding memory and the parting gift of the winner against Arsenal in April.
5 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:31:41
6 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:34:56
7 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:34:59
8 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:35:34
Jags, Baines, Pienaar, Yakubu!
Happy days in times when finances weren't always running fluidly.
9 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:42:53
Enjoy it again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6v4J1LbHpg
And when I made my first visit to Goodison in 2017, he scored off corners in both victories. Joyous memories.
Best wishes, Captain!
10 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:48:59
Great servant although would have preferred a more vocal captain.
Hope he can squeeze another season out somewhere else before hanging up his boots. One of the last few Moyes era signings. (Has it really been 6 years since Moyes left??)
11 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:52:55
Good luck Jags wherever you're headed, and thanks for being a Blue. One of my favourite players.
12 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:53:41
13 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:56:35
14 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:57:25
Decent human being too- I wish him every success at most likely Sheffield or Cardiff- thanks for everything Jags!
[BRZ]
15 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:57:40
Is this is a sign that Silva and Brands are confident of covering the centre back position without taking up the soft option of extending Jag's contract by a year?
16 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:59:34
Good luck Jags, a true professional who rarely had a poor game,
Age catches up with all of us sad to say.
17 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:00:24
Hope he gets some sort of role in the future. He seems a model pro to me.
18 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:03:13
Great servant for Everton, and like most have said, a pity he didn't lift any silverware for us.
19 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:07:57
He was proud to wear the shirt and what he lacked in some areas he made up for in courage and commitment.
A true gent and a true Blue.
Thank you Jags - I hope you can return to us one day in a coaching or ambassador type role.
The very best of luck to a top pro.
20 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:17:00
21 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:19:32
On another note, does this mean a deal for Zouma is closer than we think?
22 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:19:52
Specifically on Jags - a very good player but just that bit short ( literally and figuratively) to be a great!
Good luck and thanks for the service!
23 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:20:19
But didn't he have to go in goal for us one time as well? Or are my brain bubbles leaking a bit?
24 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:21:13
One of my favourite players from recent years.
25 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:24:57
26 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:26:52
27 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:35:13
He is one of a number of players who have stepped up from a lower division and been outstanding. I really do wish that we would look for others like him rather than trawling foreign leagues for overrated and overpriced players who are only too keen to abandon us when one of the so called bigger teams expresses interest. Farewell Jags and thank you.
28 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:35:14
Just so gutted we haven't been able to give him a trophy to lift (Baines too)
Yet another reason why the club should try much harder in the cup competitions!
Good luck in the future skipper.
29 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:37:05
Best wishes.
30 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:39:51
He wasn't a great servant like Kenwright says, but he was a very good player, who gave us some memories we will cherish and won't forget and he'll forever be remembered as a long term captain of the club who, whilst not vocal on the pitch, never let us down on or off it. His successor has a tough act to follow.
31 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:41:50
One of our best and most consistent players over the last 30 years. Well done. You can be very proud. Many thanks.
32 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:44:58
33 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:49:52
I hope Jags goes to Sheffield United and we see him at least one more time at Goodison to give him a proper send off.
34 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:53:47
35 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:55:57
36 Posted 04/06/2019 at 18:56:31
Thanks Jags, and best of luck with your next move.
37 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:00:30
Centre of defence is still not settled
We needed him last season and season before.
Both times he settled the team down when he came back into the side towards the end.
Baines and Jags are too valuable to let go just yet, but we will as we are not a wise club.
38 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:05:52
39 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:06:59
Good luck, Jags. Expect respect and regard from future encounters with fans.
40 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:08:36
41 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:11:49
Would love to see him finish his career with Sheffield Utd, in the Premiership. A true gent.
42 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:29:22
43 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:31:22
Not a great talker on the pitch but lead by class and example, I will miss him and hope to see him at Goodison next season if he signs with the Blades.
44 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:32:51
I'm also glad he was able to play a couple of times at the end of the season as it would have been sad that his last action as an Everton player was the sending off at Wolves.
45 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:36:29
I'm sure he'll get a club and he'll always be welcome at Everton.
That goal against the RS, and some fantastic games against the odds over the years, and we didn't quite get the silverware. But Jags has been immense and perhaps signals the start of a professional football management of the club by MB.
All the Very Best Jags, top player and gent and good luck.
46 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:38:05
Good man, great player and best of luck.
oh yeah, got to mention his thumping volley at Anfield and that penalty at Wembley to put us into the final. A great servant over the years.
47 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:42:21
To me the partnership with Lescott was the best I've seen for many years before and easily since.
Thanks Jags and all the best!
48 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:48:11
Pity the club couldn't give him the decision in time for him to announce his departure prior to the final game of the season.
49 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:51:33
Thank you!!!
50 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:54:18
Deserves a testimonial, perhaps a joint one with Bainesy!
Over to you Bill.
52 Posted 04/06/2019 at 19:58:16
All the best, Jags will be warmly remembered by everyone of us. I'm sure this club is fucking cursed... when you think of Jags, Seamus, Timmy, Mikel, Bainesy, etc got to win zilch. I could weep.
53 Posted 04/06/2019 at 20:15:24
54 Posted 04/06/2019 at 20:17:22
55 Posted 04/06/2019 at 20:21:56
56 Posted 04/06/2019 at 20:32:15
57 Posted 04/06/2019 at 20:44:59
Loyal to the last and still has a lot to offer someone.
Thanks for everything Jags especially that goal at Anfield.
58 Posted 04/06/2019 at 21:02:52
59 Posted 04/06/2019 at 21:38:07
Gives Jags a deserved opportunity to plan out his future properly. Hopefully he can find a good place to enjoy the last of his playing career,
60 Posted 04/06/2019 at 21:52:57
I don't want to put a downer on anything, it just seems we get far too carried away with everything these days and everyone is hyped or slated to extremes. He's a very good player and a very good captain leaving after distinguished service.
61 Posted 04/06/2019 at 21:58:33
That was the worst post in the history of posts including all the posts for Trump on Twitter, and Bill kenwright's post about the "check is in the bank."
62 Posted 04/06/2019 at 22:18:34
He's got another season in him just hope he doesn't go to someone who's playing backs to the wall footy every weekend.
He's been one of the most consistent players along with Baines over the last 10 years and that goal at the RS gave us something to shout about when we've had nothing else to shout about for a generation. Thanks Jags
63 Posted 04/06/2019 at 22:39:22
As for his playing credentials, not quite as good as Baines in my option who was an absolute Rolls Royce but sorry for the pun, like a Jag. Pity he was injured when we played final v Chelsea.
64 Posted 04/06/2019 at 22:48:09
It shows, how life goes, a crap ref, descision at Wolves, effectively was the bad card.
But when called on, Jags always done his best in thin, fine, and generally very tough times for EFC.
Good luck and Jags will never be forgotten.
65 Posted 04/06/2019 at 22:52:29
Jagielka does however, fall into the top 100 most capped English players of all time, which Watson doesn't - that's food for thought on that argument, especially since he was around in the era of Terry and Ferdinand.
Kieron 58 - I doubt Foulds will ever make the first team, however I think there could be some reasoning in making the kids prove their worth ahead of him. At the start of this season Browning and Galloway were regulars in the U23's and it was down to the likes of Gibson and Astley to prove they were good enough to play in front of them. It's also probably better to have these kids coming into a stable successful team.
66 Posted 05/06/2019 at 01:10:20
The clubs should be looking to the future. Shame he won't be involved as a coach as that's probably the biggest thing that will be missed with his departure, his experience
67 Posted 05/06/2019 at 01:11:51
69 Posted 05/06/2019 at 06:40:18
Gotta love Jags
70 Posted 05/06/2019 at 06:52:23
71 Posted 05/06/2019 at 08:05:22
He has been a great servant and given his all to the cause. 40 England caps suggest that England managers rate him higher than your good self, and that was playing for an unfashionable team like ours.
Whist I admire the likes of Labone Ratcliffe and Watson, the game now is far more difficult for a centrehalf. The offside laws have turned the job inside-out and remember the easy passback to the goalie that the likes of Hansen, Lawro, Adams et al relied on, not to mention the pedigree of foreign international players he faced every week.
72 Posted 05/06/2019 at 08:48:20
I also think he's played for some of the softest Everton teams I've ever seen, and it's possibly why he was the captain for so long, because to many players have been on easy street at Everton for years?
73 Posted 05/06/2019 at 08:57:41
A true pro and a true blue.
74 Posted 05/06/2019 at 09:14:18
Still think we would have won the cup in 2009 if he had not done his knee.
Testimonial next year?
Jag and Bainsy with a match against Juve with flags everywhere saying "Remember the Heysel 37" and bill it as the UEFA Super Cup 1985-6.
75 Posted 05/06/2019 at 09:28:32
76 Posted 05/06/2019 at 11:47:02
77 Posted 05/06/2019 at 12:03:14
78 Posted 05/06/2019 at 14:15:08
Maarten Stekelenburg
Leighton Baines
Phil Jagielka
Kurt Zouma (loan finished)
Andre Gomes (loan finished)
Theo Walcott
Cenk Touson
Oumar Niasse
Then you got to try and get rid of the loaned players:
Ashley Williams
Yannick Bolaise
Kevin Mirallas
Sandro Ramirez
Cuco Martinez
Muhamed Besic
Shani Tarashaj
Nicola Vlasic
That's 16 players. I would not like to be in Brands shoes to sort this mess out. On top of that, I think we would need 5 or 6 players to come in:
Centre half
Left back (if Baines goes)
Midfielder
Decent right winger
Striker
80 Posted 05/06/2019 at 15:50:16
81 Posted 05/06/2019 at 18:10:12
82 Posted 05/06/2019 at 18:28:18
83 Posted 05/06/2019 at 19:41:53
McCarthy, Niasse, Mirallas, Martina, Tarashaj and Garbutts contracts all run out in 12 months time, so 'only' one year left on these. You'd hope the club could shift most of these for small fees, if only to make up for part of the wages they'd be due for the coming season. Or farm them out on loan for a year to reduce the cost to us. They all have f'k all transfer value anyway and no one wants to buy them.
Remaining 4, actually 5 (Tosun needs to go). It's this 5 thats the real problem.
Tosun, Bolasie, Ramirez, Vlasic and Besic all have at least 2 years left with us. Best we can likely achieve are loans where we're still paying most of their wages. These 5 cost the club over £15m a year in wages and contribute nothing.
Sadly all the above unwanted players will cost the club about £30m in wages in the coming season if we don't manage to catch a break and sell some.
We need to really be careful on future transfers after the fiasco of the last 3-4 years. I'm not getting a comfy feeling on Mina as it is and he's got 4 years left on his £120k/year contract
Keep in mind the new players Silva and Brands have brought in are by no means cheap and are in fact some of our top earners. Digne £90k/week, Richarlison £90k/week, Bernard £120k/week. Whilst these 3 have all performed, I'm not sure we can have a whole first team earning average £100k/week! Silva and Brands need to start digging out some gems. At least Bernard didn't have a high transfer fee (but £120k/week is £6m/year!).
On a positive note...its the summer!
84 Posted 06/06/2019 at 03:50:44
On his day one of the best defenders to have worn the shirt. His epic performance where he put Fernando Torres in his pocket and marked him out of the game, the same with Suarez. His partnerships with Distin & Lescott (for a period the best central defensive pairing in the Premiership). That off the line clearance and the amount of times he threw his body on the line.
His pace, calmness, professionalism and dogs of war attitude would have placed him ahead of Stubbs, Weir, Bilic, Dunne and Unsworth for me. Maybe even at the time a promising Materazzi (what might have been).
Kept out of the England team by two of the best English defenders of all time. Yet still managed to get 40 caps. Never failed to fight for every manager at the club and wore the shirt with pride.
Hats off to him. Keane and Mina have huge boots to fill.
Goodbye Captain.
86 Posted 06/06/2019 at 12:09:13
Its heartbreaking how close Moyes came to putting together trophy winning teams only to be undermined by the calamitous disease that blighted the club in the shape of Bill Kenshite.
Will we ever get over his lies and mismanagement?
87 Posted 06/06/2019 at 12:39:57
88 Posted 06/06/2019 at 12:40:28
The spine ripped out of our side with Jags, Arteta and Yukubu being injured for the final.
That goal against the Shite will be his defining moment in a Royal Blue Top, closely followed by the pen and the image of Vaughan going absolutely bonkers in the background.
89 Posted 06/06/2019 at 13:58:27
Great point. Some of the “great†Italian defenders did little more than pass the ball back and forth to the keeper for 90 minutes when keepers could handle passes.
90 Posted 06/06/2019 at 14:11:42
I'm not saying Jags has been a bad servant, I just think he's a notch short of greatness and wonder what it was that he did that everyone wants to laud him so much for when you consider his predecessors.
91 Posted 06/06/2019 at 23:10:06
92 Posted 06/06/2019 at 23:52:15
That's maybe a cold, heartless assessment to some but, as others have said, until we rid ourselves of the faux teary, comfy, do-gooding characteristics epitomising the longest span of time in our history without winning a trophy we simply haven't got a prayer of actually winning a trophy.
(And I hope some readers, who've had a go at me previously, give me dues for not having mentioned that tosser Kenwright by name on this occasion!)
93 Posted 07/06/2019 at 00:54:01
94 Posted 07/06/2019 at 12:59:05
All the very best to you Jags and hope you succeed with whatever you may plan to do next.
95 Posted 08/06/2019 at 05:31:11
You don't realise just how many of them there are until you see them listed like that!
96 Posted 08/06/2019 at 14:03:26
I know it's not done to query the wisdom of the owner but apart from Randy Lerner at Villa I can recall no one who has chucked so much cash at so ny shite managers and players. I wonder whose advice he has taken to achieve absolutely nothing ?
Unless Brands is a magician, the agony will go on.
97 Posted 09/06/2019 at 00:44:00
The numbers are what's been published, they may be right or not but that's the info available. Make of them what you will. Regardless, we have a lot of high-paid players who no-one wants.
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1 Posted 04/06/2019 at 17:18:04