Tottenham on alert as Everton ‘listen to offers’ for fading star spied by Newcastle, Rangers

Tottenham Hotspur are one of six clubs that could be encouraged to make a move for available Everton defender Ben Godfrey, according to a report.

90min is claiming that Everton will ‘listen to offers’ for the centre-back in January after he fell down their pecking order under Sean Dyche’s management. Moreover, the 25-year-old is about to enter the final 18 months of his contract at Goodison Park.

Even though Everton no longer have the same use for him, Godfrey may still be of interest to a range of clubs – including some who are used to finishing above the Toffees in the table.

According to 90min, Tottenham and Newcastle are two of the main suitors for the Yorkshireman. They have both admired him for a while and still have vacancies in their defences.

For example, Tottenham have lost impressive summer signing Micky van de Ven to injury, while Newcastle never found the long-term successor to Fabian Schar they were in the market for in the summer.

Godfrey could fill either gap, but he also has three other suitors in the Premier League: namely Bournemouth, Burnley and Crystal Palace.

Furthermore, the report claims he is of interest to Scottish Premiership giants Rangers, which makes it a six-horse race.

It is not yet clear what kind of asking price Everton will set for a player they paid £20m for when buying him from Norwich City in 2020.

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His only start this season was in the Carabao Cup second round against Doncaster Rovers, while his only Premier League appearance was as a stoppage-time substitute for the injured James Tarkowski in a draw with Sheffield United in September.

That said, he hasn’t exactly been frozen out entirely by Dyche, since he has been an unused substitute for all the games he hasn’t played in this season and never omitted from the squad altogether.

Everton have also recently become the club Godfrey has played the most for in his career, since he is now on 79 appearances for them, one more than he ever made for Norwich.

New challenge awaits Godfrey

Regardless, his future seems to lie away from Merseyside. As someone who has two England caps to his name from a few years ago, he will be eager to find somewhere he can get his career back on track.

News of Tottenham and Newcastle being in the race for Godfrey follows TEAMtalk exclusively revealing that both clubs had been dealt a blow by Bournemouth deciding to reject any offers for another target, Lloyd Kelly, in January.

Nevertheless, Kelly is due to become a free agent at the end of the season, which may explain why Bournemouth are keeping tabs on Godfrey as well.

As for his other English suitors, Crystal Palace would do well to keep hold of Marc Guehi in the long term, while Burnley have struggled since their return to the Premier League and their squad might need upgrading more than they realised.