Which Everton players should stay and go?

Now that Sam Allardyce has left as Everton manager and with a new man set to be appointed very soon, we ask which players from the current squad should stay and who should be moved on.

Whoever comes in to take the Everton hotseat, has some big decisions to make regarding the current first-team squad he will inherit.

There have been  a lot of underperforming players this past season and their future is very much in doubt (or should be).

So let’s go through the current first-team squad and highlight those who have done enough to justify staying and those who should be leaving in the summer.

We’ll start with the defence.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has been the Blues’ best player this season, which of course tells you how poor the outfield players have been!

He has usually been solid and reliable (although he had a terrible game at West Ham) and at times has pulled off some brilliant saves.

His ability on the ball also makes him a valuable player, especially if the new manager wants to play more from the back.

At full-back it was good to have both Seamus Coleman and Leighton Baines back in the team after injury. Although neither were at their best over the final few weeks of the season, their quality and experience is important going forward.

However I feel that Baines, given his age and injury problems, does need competition from a younger player at left-back. A number of players have been mentioned over the past few months as possible new additions here.

Coleman is the obvious first-choice at right-back and with two talented young players in Jon-jo Kenny and Mason Holgate available in reserve, Cuco Martina should be moved on.

In some ways Martina has been a little unlucky. He was signed by Koeman and was always intended to be a reserve at full-back but because of the long-term injuries to Coleman and then Baines, he came into a struggling team and was often playing  out of position at left-back.

Now we move to the centre of defence. Here there are a lot of problems to sort out.

First of all Ashley Williams has had a poor season and must be anxious about his future. He was guilty of some individual errors that proved costly and has a poor disciplinary record.

More from Prince Rupert's Tower

• Everton 0 Arsenal 1: Blues fall to third home defeat
• Further chaos in Everton takeover as other lenders not keen on 777 Partners
• Everton need repeat of Arsenal win to kick-start their season on Sunday
• More madness at Everton as Moshiri now agrees to sell club to 777 Partners
• Everton takeover talk cools after UK govt doubts and further questions

I’ve already mentioned that Holgate who can also play centre-back, (in fact that is his best position), should stay. And £30 million signing Michael Keane at last began to show his quality in the final few games of last season too.

His regular partner over those last fixtures was Phil Jagielka. Jags has been a great servant for Everton over the past ten years but at 35 years old he hasn’t got many seasons left at this level.

Again there are a number of players who might be good replacements for him, one of them who has just become available is Swansea’s Alfie Mawson.

After the Swans relegation, according to The Guardian, he wants to stay in the Premier League and would be very affordable at around £20 million.

Although Holgate is a promising youngster, I don’t think that either of the other youth team defenders out on loan Matthew Pennington or Tyias Browning have a long-term future at Goodison.

The only other centre-half is Argentine Ramiro Funes Mori. He’s had a lot of injury problems recently and I’m not convinced he is a player the Blues should hold onto.

So a quality centre-back to partner Keane for the next few years is surely another priority for the new Blues boss.