One Championship club have now ‘asked about’ the availability of Everton’s £20m outcast

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Everton’s financial issues have dominated the headlines this season and to navigate past them, they could offload some of their most saleable assets.

Amadou Onana and Jarrad Branthwaite are the biggest of those and they have already attracted huge interest from some top clubs.

However, losing either of them in this window would be a hammer blow to Sean Dyche in their battle against relegation.

Branthwaite has been phenomenal defensively, forming an integral partnership with James Tarkowski, while Onana has dominated in the middle of the park.

It would be suicide for the Toffees to sell either of their most prized possessions so late on in this window and instead they could offload a few of their less important stars.

One of those is defender Ben Godfrey, who is on the radar of several clubs.

David Ornstein says Leeds United have ‘asked about’ Ben Godfrey

As a fourth-choice centre-back at Goodison Park, Godfrey is on the chopping block as the club attempt to reduce their bloated wage budget.

Fabrizio Romano reported yesterday that Serie A side Genoa were considering a move for the £20m defender, however, Everton believed better proposals were coming in from other clubs.

According to the Athletic’s David Ornstein, Leeds have now ‘asked about’ the 26-year-old’s availability but are still long a way off convincing Everton to do business.

He wrote: “They have asked about Godfrey but are a long way off what it would take to convince Everton to do business. Godfrey is also open to playing abroad, so that will expand the options if he is to leave.”

It seems difficult for the Whites to turn Godfrey’s head towards the Championship, although the promise of regular first-team football and the possibility of winning promotion to the Premier League could be enough persuasion.

After all, he already knows the feeling of scooping the second-tier title having won it with Norwich in the 2018/19 campaign.

Should Everton sell Godfrey?

In their current financial position, Everton need to recoup any money they can get on their assets.

Godfrey, who has only played 180 minutes of football this term, is frozen out of Dyche’s plans and has essentially been told to find another club.

Branthwaite, Tarkowski and Michael Keane are all above him in the pecking order and at his age, he needs to be playing regular first-team football.

If Everton were to acquire a fee for the Englishman, while it wouldn’t give them the license to reinvest so to speak, it would be a welcome sight for the accountants seeking to regain some sense of stability and sustainability.

With time running out for the Toffees to relieve their wage bill of financial stress in this window, the departure of Godfrey could be sanctioned in the coming days, putting an end to his three-and-a-half-year stay on Merseyside.