Paul Tait has revealed that Kyle John will leave Everton on loan in January after missing out on a summer move following a call-up to Frank Lampard’s first-team squad.
Just yesterday, the Blues announced that the defender had put pen-to-paper on a new deal with the club. The fresh terms will keep him at Everton until June 2024.
The 21-year-old joined Everton aged six and has worked his way through the club's Academy ranks. The right-back has also established himself as a key player for the club's Under-21s in recent years and also trains regularly with Frank Lampard’s side.
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John was part of matchday squads for the Blues’ Premier League games against Southampton and Manchester United earlier this month, and Tait believes the time has come for the defender to go and test himself in mens football. The Blues coach is also expecting a number of clubs to be interested in taking the right-back on loan.
He said: “Kyle has done brilliantly this season. He’s been outstanding and he’s ready for mens football.
“He would have gone earlier, he would have went in the summer if it wasn't for him being around the first-team and being part of the manager’s training squad. So he will definitely go out in January and I think there will be a queue for him.”
John was instrumental as Everton Under-21s made it two wins out of two in the Premier League International Cup by seeing off Hertha Berlin at Haig Avenue on Tuesday night.
Goals from Charlie Whitaker, Francis Okoronkwo, Joe Anderson and substitute Stanley Mills secured Tait’s side a 4-1 victory. The win came following a 5-0 victory over Braga in the Blues’ opening game of the tournament.
The Premier League International Cup is an under-21 tournament consisting of 12 teams from England's Premier League 2 alongside a dozen of the best academies across Europe. Teams are split into three groups of eight, from which the top two - plus the two best third-placed teams - advance to the quarter-finals.
And speaking post-match, Tait explained why the tournament presents his players with a number of challenges they aren’t used to during their domestic fixtures.
“This tournament has been really good and we have enjoyed it,” he told the ECHO.
“The Braga game was good, good variety, and playing against different styles and then we don’t quite know what to expect till they land at our door. We are really pleased with the result, obviously, and some of the play as well.”
Before he added: “We get a lot of information to the lads about the league games and everybody knows how each other are going to play. There are not really a lot of surprises.
“Whereas in this tournament, so far, we don’t quite know what is going to land. I think it is good for the players' development to solve that out there on the pitch and not be relying on us and staff or analysis. It is good for them to work it out themselves.”
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