Ranking the importance of offering contracts to Everton first-team players

The summer of 2025 saw a significant period of transition at Everton Football Club, with several incomings and outgoings within the first-team squad.

The Toffees ended the 2024/25 campaign with up to 15 players out of contract, including five loan players, with key decisions made in terms of whether to retain or offload those members of the squad.

The club ultimately decided to renew contracts with three first-team players, including club captain Seamus Coleman, midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye, and defender Michael Keane, as well as taking up the option to make loanee Carlos Alcaraz a permanent deal.

​Following the conclusion of the summer transfer window and the beginning of a brand-new Premier League season, the focus and discussion have been on several first-team players whose current deals expire next summer.

Of that group, I’ve ranked them by the importance of agreeing fresh terms beyond 2026.

​3. James Garner

​Garner is a player who continues to split opinions amongst the Everton fanbase, despite having an impressive start to the current campaign. The Birkenhead-born midfielder joined the Toffees in the summer of 2022 from Manchester United on a permanent deal and has had an up-and-down time on Merseyside to date. 

Garner’s opening season in 22/23 was a mixed campaign in terms of injuries, with the Englishman registering just 17 first-team appearances, which included eight starts and a total of 848 minutes played. His second season was a much-improved campaign, with Garner missing just one of Everton’s 45 competitive games in 23/24, a season in which he scored his first Premier League goal against Bournemouth in a 3-0 victory at Goodison Park. 

Last season saw Garner suffer a setback in terms of injuries, which kept him sidelined for three months between mid-October and January. However, after coming on as a second-half substitute away at Brighton & Hove Albion on 25 January, he worked his way into the starting XI for the remainder of the campaign.

​Everton have played seven competitive games in the 25/26 season thus far, and Garner is one of three players to have played every minute, a list that includes vice-captain James Tarkowski and his defensive partner Michael Keane.

Garner was part of some history at the start of the season as the 24-year-old scored Everton’s second goal in their landmark 2-0 victory at home against Brighton in the first competitive game at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

​Overall, you wouldn’t be against offering Garner a new deal due to his level of consistency and versatility across midfield, as well as deputising at full-back on a few occasions.

​2. Vitalii Mykolenko

​Mykolenko is a player who splits the Everton fanbase despite being a mainstay since arriving at the club in January 2022 from Dynamo Kyiv. A player who very quickly had to settle into the team, having become the successor to Frenchman Lucas Digne, who left Everton for Aston Villa shortly after ‘Myko’s’ arrival.

​Since being at Everton, the Ukrainian International has racked up 126 appearances for the Toffees in all competitions and has four goals and three assists to his name in just over three-and-a-half seasons at the club.

No fan can ever question Mykolenko’s commitment and work ethic on the pitch; however, some may argue that, as a modern-day fullback, he does not quite have the skill set and credentials to tick the boxes needed to live up to that role. His lack of forward threat is amplified when compared to Everton’s two previous first-choice left-backs, Digne and club icon Leighton Baines.

​Overall, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if the club decided to offer Mykolenko a new deal at the end of the current campaign. The player is still at a good age (26) to offer Everton sell-on value in years to come, rather than offloading next summer for free and then being placed in a position of finding a new first-choice left back.

​1. James Tarkowski

​Now, some fans from a value perspective may argue why Tarkowski is placed higher in this list compared to Mykolenko and Garner, who are both at different stages of their careers. 

'Tarky’ has become a stalwart at Everton since he arrived from Burnley in the summer of 2022. Starting 111 consecutive Premier League games between August 2022 and April 2025, with the run coming to an end following a hamstring injury sustained in a home game against Manchester City.

​Tarkowski’s influence both on and off the pitch has been vital in recent years, and the 32-year-old has been a key figure in Everton remaining a Premier League club to date. 

Given the vice-captain role in the summer of 2023 following his first season at the club, Tarkowski has worn the armband on several occasions over the last few seasons due to the absence of club skipper Seamus Coleman and has built a formidable defensive partnership with Jarrad Branthwaite, a defence in which was ranked second for clean sheets in the Premier League behind only Arsenal during the 2023/24 season.

​Moving forward, Tarkowski still remains a key player for Everton. There are question marks over his age and whether there may become a time in the not-so-distant future that Everton look to find a long-term successor to their vice-captain, with the hope amongst Evertonians that current first-choice right back Jake O’Brien could fill in that role alongside Branthwaite.

However, for now, Tarkowski still remains a key first-team player for Everton, and there is no doubt the club will offer him a contract extension next summer.

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