Sean Dyche has played down talk of winger Arnaut Danjuma leaving the club this month and said he is in line to feature in Sunday’s clash with Aston Villa, after the player posted a picture of himself onboard a plane amid talk of a move to Lyon.
Danjuma, formerly of Bournemouth and Tottenham, joined the Toffees on a season-long loan from Villarreal in the summer but has struggled to nail down a place in Dyche’s team, with the Nigerian-born Dutch international starting just four Premier League games for the club.
And his agent, Michael Moses Jarman, confirmed on radio station talkSPORT that Danjuma was in talks with Ligue 1 side Lyon. The player stirred the pot further by posting a picture on Instagram of himself on a plane with Jarman.
But Dyche has rubbished talk of him leaving this window and said: ‘The situation is simple - he’s an Everton player. He played in the last game and has a fair chance of playing in the next one. I had a word with him as it seems excessive to go from Manchester to Liverpool in a plane!’
Dyche, who was joking about Danjuma’s reason for being on a plane, added: ‘He said nothing other than he wants to work hard and play. We need everyone, we've been stretched in many ways.
‘The one thing is all these players have agents, we can’t control everything. We often get asked why we can’t control players let alone agents. He’s an Everton player. We’ve got control of all these situations.’
Everton will be without Dwight McNeil after the winger was stretchered off at Crystal Palace in the last match but they have been ‘very lucky’ to avoid a serious injury. The former Burnley man will not play against Aston Villa but should be in contention to return after the winter break.
Abdoulaye Doucoure will, though, be fit for the visit of Unai Emery’s side, who thrashed Everton 4-0 in August in the Premier League return but then lost to the Toffees in the Carabao Cup. Ashley Young is back in training but the match against his former club will be too soon.