Everton confirm Mykolenko deal as first transfer business done
As has been long rumoured and expected, Everton have today confirmed that Dynamo Kiev and Ukraine international left-back Vitaly Mykolenko has signed for the club.
This is news we have been waiting to hear for a few weeks now and the confirmation by Everton of a four-and-a-half-year deal makes Mykolenko the latest player to join this famous club.
The deal was on and then maybe not, but today it’s apparently been done and concluded with Mykolenko arriving in England soon.
It looks as though the Toffees’ are determined to move quickly and get their transfer business done as early as they can in this month’s window. That will be good to see after perhaps often moving too slowly in past windows.
Rafa Benitez has been speaking of doing exactly that in the upcoming window and has also stressed that a players have been identified and a shortlist has been drawn up. He’s is also looking for players ideally with Premier League experience.
Mykolenko obviously doesn’t fit that bill though and he’s a player who the Blues’ are taking a chance on him given his age and lack of experience in the unforgiving reality of English football.
However, his arrival will at least provide some much-needed competition at left-back with Nils Nkounkou having gone out on loan.
All this of course raises serious questions about the future of Nkounkou and of course even more so, Lucas Digne with plenty of recent speculation about whether the out-of-favour Frenchman still has a future at Goodison Park.
It appears as though Digne is under consideration for the next match as Everton take on Brighton and Hove Albion tomorrow at the Grand Old Lady.
He’s been back in training and with both player and manager wanting it seems to move past recent disagreements, it’s possible he may start against the Seagulls.
Given Mykolenko’s lack of experience it would seem very unlikely he will slot straight into the Toffees’ starting line-up, unless of course Digne were himself to leave in this window.
That is still a possibility with rumours of potential bids from several clubs like Chelsea, Lazio and Juventus continuing to float around.
I would like to see the Ukraine youngster perhaps coming in as a back-up for Digne. Or perhaps he might if he forced his way into the team more quickly, play in the same side as Digne with the French player operating in a more advanced position.
We will now see how this plays out and whether both players will still being wearing royal blue when the transfer window closes.