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Everton are interested in taking Kalvin Phillips on loan from Manchester City next season.
The Merseyside club hope the England midfielder, who spent the second half of last season on loan at West Ham, will be allowed to leave the Etihad Stadium again on a temporary basis for the 2024-25 campaign.
Phillips, a £42.5m signing from Leeds in 2022, has only started six games for City, just two of them in the Premier League, and featured for just 89 minutes in the top flight for them last season.
His loan spell at West Ham was unsuccessful, with the 28-year-old giving a goal away on his debut, starting just three games and being sent off in the defeat to Nottingham Forest.
But Everton manager Sean Dyche is an admirer of Phillips, who lost his place in the England squad in March but has won 31 caps and started every game as his country reached the final of Euro 2020.
City manager Pep Guardiola criticised Phillips for returning from the 2022 World Cup overweight and apologised in December for picking him so rarely but said: “I visualise the team and I struggle to see him [in it].”
While City may want to sell Phillips, who also attracted interest from Juventus and Newcastle before joining West Ham in January, Everton would prefer a loan deal.
They are likely to have a limited transfer budget, amid uncertainty over the club’s ownership, with their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock to be paid for and after failing Profitability and Sustainability Rules for each of the last two financial years.
They also hope to take Jack Harrison back on loan from Leeds for a second successive season, with their chances of securing a deal enhanced after Daniel Farke’s team lost Sunday’s Championship play-off final.
In addition, Everton have offered new one-year contracts to the veterans Ashley Young and Seamus Coleman as Dyche tries to build his squad for next season.