Everton give Mangala Man City escape route

Dom Farrell

Everton give Mangala Man City escape route image

Eliaquim Mangala has joined Everton on loan from Manchester City for the rest of the season, subject to Premier League clearance.

The France centre-back joins Sam Allardyce's side after making just nine league appearances this term.

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to play for Everton and I cannot wait to pull on the royal blue jersey for the first time and give my all for the supporters," Mangala said.

Mangala became one of the most expensive defenders of all time when he joined City from Porto in August 2014 – his £32 million fee later reported to be worth in the region of £42m once payments to settle the player's complicated ownership arrangements were made.

A succession of high-profile errors hindered Mangala's attempts to settle and he was sent out on loan to Valencia for the duration of the 2016-17 campaign.

The 26-year-old has returned to Pep Guardiola's first-team squad this season, making 15 appearances across all competitions.

However, the club-record arrival from Athletic Bilbao of Aymeric Laporte, who was named in the starting line-up for a debut in the 3-0 win over West Brom, has rendered Mangala surplus to requirements at the Etihad Stadium.

He is Everton's third major signing of the transfer window after forwards Cenk Tosun and Theo Walcott, the latter scoring twice in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Leicester City.

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.