Everton are hoping to sell Matthew Pennington before Friday’s transfer deadline, with the defender unlikely to get a look in under Carlo Ancelotti, according to the Liverpool Echo.
It spoke volumes about his dwindling status at Goodison Park that, when Mason Holgate joined Jarrad Branthwaite on the sidelines in September, Pennington still wasn’t handed a chance.
The Toffees paid £20 million to sign Ben Godfrey from Norwich City instead, leaving the now-26-year-old slipping ever further down the pecking order on the blue half of Merseyside.
According to the Echo, Everton would be more than happy to cash in on their long-serving academy graduate with just three days left in the window.
Pennington is out of contract in the summer of 2021 after all and the Premier League pacesetters are running out of time if they want to avoid losing the Warrington-born central defender on a free transfer.
Having spent the last three seasons on loan in the Championship, at Leeds, Ipswich and Hull respectively, Pennington appears to agree with Everton’s assessment.
Speaking to Hull Live back in April, the man himself admitted that he wanted to finally turn a house into a home somewhere other than Goodison Park.
“I’ve got next season at Everton but hopefully I can get something sorted in the summer elsewhere,” he said.
“I’m thinking I need a home in the summer, somewhere to put my roots down and crack on with my career.”
Pennington has not played a Premier League game since a 4-2 defeat to Leicester City in April 2017; a game in which he started alongside Ross Barkley, Kevin Mirallas and Romelu Lukaku.
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