What's going on with Mykolenko's contract?

It has somewhat gone under the radar. There aren’t many — if any — questions being asked of David Moyes about it, and there has been no talk from the player’s side. Nothing while away on international duty, for example.

But, as it stands, Vitaliy Mykolenko has less than three months to run on his Everton contract.

Mykolenko penned a four-and-a-half-year deal in January 2022. Those four-and-a-half years are very nearly up.

Now, there have been reports, albeit unconfirmed ones, that the Ukrainian’s deal includes a club option to extend by one year.

Yet so far, there has been no suggestion or announcement that such a clause, if indeed it does exist, has been activated.

When you contrast the situation to say, that of James Garner, who David Moyes confirmed was previously on a contract which included an extension option, but was offered a bumper new deal midway through the season, then the difference is stark.

Now, Garner is a much-improved player who has been one of the Premier League’s top performing midfielders this term. He is crucial for Everton and, at 25, has plenty of years in the tank.

Mykolenko, on the other hand, cannot — and should not — be sure of his place in Everton’s team heading into next season, if of course he is still at the club.

At 26, Mykolenko is probably entering his prime, and while he has improved steadily since he was signed in 2022, he is still lacking in key attributes for a modern-day, top-level full-back.

Nobody can really doubt Mykolenko’s defensive ability. He has proved now to be a capable defender, and regularly turns in solid displays against some of the Premier League’s best wingers.

But Everton need to be moving forward, and for that, they need at least a couple of new full-backs, each capable of pushing on in attack and providing another facet to the Toffees’ play.

“A full-back’s first job is to defend” no longer washes — and really, it hasn’t in years. At least a decade. The irony is, Moyes had the best pair of attacking full-backs around in the latter seasons of his first stint at Everton, in the form of Seamus Coleman and Leighton Baines, yet in his second spell, he arguably has some of the poorest.

Adam Aznou has not had a look-in this season, while Nathan Patterson performed well when he was needed but then has not played a minute since the end of January. Jake O’Brien is no full-back, even if he has performed admirably there in the circumstances, and Everton’s best right-back is probably Garner, who also happens to be one of their best midfielders.

A lack of attacking punch from either full-back position has hurt Everton, particularly at home, and if they are to go ahead and re-sign Jack Grealish, then supplying him with a player capable of offering a threat from behind him will be crucial.

There is no doubt Everton need a new left-back, but that does not solve the Mykolenko issue.

They could let him go for free this summer, but that would not seem a sensible business decision. They could, in theory, offer him a new, longer-term deal to protect the asset and ensure there is an experienced option on hand for next season, allowing the new man time to bed in and also allowing Aznou to be loaned out and get some much-needed game time.

If there is a clause to activate, then Everton should do so, but that would then still mean Mykolenko heads straight into the last 12 months of his deal, so it would only be kicking the can down a very short road in that regard.

It will be intriguing to see which option Everton go with, and if reporters do start to press Moyes on the situation over the remainder of the season.

Or perhaps Everton have already made their mind up, one way or the other, and it’s just a case of an official announcement. At the end of the day, Mykolenko is not the level of the left-back the team needs, but as it stands, he is the only realistic option they have.

 

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