Mason Holgate permanent exit from Everton now on the cards after ‘bad start’ at Southampton

Mason Holgate could depart Everton permanently at the end of his Southampton loan after his “bad start” with the Saints, while the “low environment” at Goodison Park won’t allow him to flourish.

Journalist Dean Jones shared with GIVEMESPORT (9 September) that Holgate must “get back to a place of positivity” as there’s “no hiding “from his poor start at St Mary’s Stadium.

Holgate was already deemed surplus to requirements at Goodison Park despite the Toffees’ lacklustre defence, with his loan to the Championship an attempt to redirect the trajectory of his recently promising career.

Jones said: “It was a bad start. There’s absolutely no hiding from that. But no one is going to feel that more than Mason Holgate.

“Holgate is coming from an environment, at Everton, where everyone was low. Holgate, if he was to play, was probably making high-profile mistakes. He needs to get back to a place of positivity, and that’s going to come with clean sheets. They will come at Southampton.”

With Everton in dire need of cash and considering Holgate’s significant wage, a sale for the former England youth international could be on the cards this summer.

Sean Dyche clearly did not see a role for Holgate in his squad. His dwindling form in recent seasons has seen his stock dip significantly. The Mirror claimed back in 2020 (10 January) that the then-23-year-old was in line for an ultimately non-existent senior England call-up. Three-and-a-half years later, he is in the Championship.

Unless he turns his fortunes around at Southampton, it is unlikely he will have a role to play in Everton’s future. While Saints boss Russell Martin took the bullet for Holgate’s poor start, saying, as quoted by GIVEMESPORT, “I shouldn’t have picked him and it was too soon”, it does not bode well for his future Premier League career that he can’t stick it out in the second division.

Financially, a sale makes real sense. Football Insider claimed (2 July) that Holgate’s wages are to automatically increase this summer to £72,000 per week – a huge sum of money for a bit-part centre-back amid the Toffees’ financial woes.

Getting him off the wage bill and avoiding this wage bill increase should be of paramount importance for the hierarchy. The 26-year-old cost just £2million from Barnsley in 2015, so a realistic fee for Holgate would likely see Everton make a profit on him, just perhaps not as much as they’d have hoped when they signed him eight years ago.

The club do face an issue in any sale though: would anyone want him? Granted, Holgate has plenty of time to improve his form and prove his doubters wrong. He was highly regarded for a reason and he has performed very well in Everton colours in the past, so it is certainly feasible that he can raise his stock.

His significant wages would be an issue too. Even if he does improve, no club in the market for the likes of Holgate would dish out such high wages, so he’d be forced to take a pay cut – a significant one.

If Holgate doesn’t want to, he could just see out his Toffees contract and cash in his hefty cheque from the bench each week.

Most importantly for Holgate, however, he needs to be in the right environment to flourish. Jones said Holgate “is coming from an environment, at Everton, where everyone was low. He needs to get back to a place of positivity, and that’s going to come with clean sheets.”

If he returns to a low Everton environment after his loan, he could be back to square one again – more motivation for a sale.

The best-case scenario is that Holgate returns on top form and can slot into Dyche’s still-Premier League defence. Hopefully, this is the case, but the Toffees must be realistic about their financial situation and aim to get the most from a high-cost asset.