Everton lead Aston Villa in race for forgotten England international amid Toffees injury blow

Everton are leading the race for out-of-favour Manchester City star Kalvin Phillips amid competition from Aston Villa, according to reports.

The Toffees have made a fast start to the transfer window by signing Iliman Ndiaye, Jake O’Brien, Tim Iroegbunam, Jack Harrison (loan) and Jesper Lindstrom (loan with option) so far.

Sources have informed TEAMtalk that Sean Dyche’s priority for what remains of the window is to sign a new midfielder and Kalvin Phillips is among the manager’s top targets.

Phillips could be brought in as a replacement for Amadou Onana who has joined Aston Villa in a £50m deal.

Iroegbunam, who is also a midfielder, has featured regularly in pre-season but the Toffees want more competition for the 21-year-old, especially with James Garner sidelined with an injury.

Garner isn’t expected to be unavailable for long but could miss the beginning of the campaign with a calf issue.

We confirmed a few weeks ago that Phillips was a key target for Everton and now Football Insider claim that they are the favourites to sign him this summer.

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The sticking point to a potential deal is that Man City would prefer to offload the England international permanently whereas the Toffees want to sign him on loan.

But so far no side have shown any indication that they’d be willing to sign the midfielder on a permanent deal, so the likelihood of him making the switch to Goodison Park is growing by the day.

Everton lead Aston Villa in transfer race

Aston Villa have also shown an interest in Phillips but the 28-year-old’s priority for his next move is consistent playing time, which he’d be more likely to get with Everton.

But signing him is still a risk for the Toffees as he hasn’t been at his best since leaving Leeds United two years ago. He struggled on loan with West Ham last term and it’s telling that they weren’t keen to re-sign him this season.

Sources close to Everton state that Dyche is a long-term admirer of Phillips and believes he can get him back to his best at Goodison Park.

Talks with Man City have been ongoing for weeks and whether they can be convinced to send him out on loan remains to be seen.

Pep Guardiola’s side would like a purchase clause inserted into the potential loan but they may have to settle for an option to buy as the window draws to a close.

Phillips isn’t the only midfielder on Everton’s shortlist, however.

As previously revealed by TEAMtalk, Chelsea youngster Lesley Ugochukwu is also of interest to the Merseyside club, as well as Habib Diarra of Strasbourg.

Diarra is a less likely option, however, as Strasbourg want around £25m for the 20-year-old and therefore Everton would have to sell players to avoid his price tag.

They are actively looking for buyers for Mason Holgate, Michael Keane and Neal Maupay, while the future of Dominic Calvert-Lewin also remains unclear.

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