Everton hierarchy have made their decision on Jake O’Brien ahead of the January transfer window

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Everton were active in the summer transfer market with a number of new faces coming in through the doors at Goodison Park.

It has not been a great start to the campaign for Everton with Sean Dyche’s men sitting narrowly above the relegation zone by just three points.

Some of the summer signings have worked better than others with Iliman Ndiaye earning a lot of praise for his start to life at Everton.

However, the same cannot be said for Jake O’Brien who has really struggled to earn himself many minutes in an Everton shirt.

TBR Football’s Graeme Bailey has spoken to Everton.News to share the latest on the Ireland international’s future on Merseyside.

• READ MORE: What Carlo Ancelotti stated should be Everton’s ‘dream’ as they prepare to move to new stadium

Everton not looking to sell Jake O’Brien

It has been a frustrating start to the campaign for the centre-back and O’Brien has seen interest from France ahead of the January window.

O’Brien’s minutes have been extremely hard to come by this season as he still awaits his first start in the Premier League despite Jarrad Branthwaite’s injury issues.

Despite his early struggles to break into the side, Bailey has told Everton.News there are no plans at Goodison to allow O’Brien to leave.

“Yeah the Everton hierarchy are not looking to let him go,” Bailey said in reaction to the transfer speculation.

“Obviously he’s not first choice with Dyche. Not an ideal scenario for him, but I’m told that they don’t particularly want to let him go.

“But yeah they appreciate the player is a bit agitated as he’s not playing. They’ll see how it plays out and I think the hierarchy rate him quite highly.”

Although he is struggling for minutes, it has been said that O’Brien is impressing in Everton training as he looks to earn Dyche’s trust.

Sean Dyche needs to hand O’Brien Everton chance

There is still one week until Everton take back to the pitch to play against Brentford in the Premier League and Everton will be sweating over Branthwaite’s fitness.

The England international returned early from the national camp with Dyche recently admitted Branthwaite was not fully fit.

In the draw against West Ham, the 22-year-old returned to the starting XI but some Everton fans were concerned by Branthwaite’s display.

Given Everton have not exactly been tight at the back with James Tarkowski and Michael Keane, it now feels as good of a chance as ever to throw O’Brien into the starting XI.