Everton have small window to re-call Virginia in January

Everton could look to re-call Joao Virginia from his Reading loan spell in January, although they’ve only got a small window to do so.

The 20-year old goalkeeper hasn’t had the best time at the Madjeski this season, having been frozen out after making a difficult start in the Championships.

Former Arsenal starlet Virginia only started the Royals’ first two Championship games before being dropped after making a couple of big mistakes that led to goals.

Since then, he has only managed cup appearances, under both former manager Jose Gomes and head coach Mark Bowen, who joined Reading in October, with Virginia finding himself completely removed from the match-day squad on many occasions.

The Liverpool Echo report that the Toffees did insert a re-call clause in Virginia’s loan agreement, although they won’t have the whole month of January to decide whether to trigger it.

It isn’t revealed when that indeterminate amount time will come into effect or for how long Everton can use it though.

Read Everton Verdict

Realistically, it shouldn’t take Everton long to come to the conclusion that Virginia needs to come back to Merseyside in January.

The young shot-stopper was sent to work with Jose Gomes to hopefully help him develop, and while in some way it can be beneficial for Virginia to learn that making mistakes at senior level can cost you, Everton need him to be playing games.

Virginia was a major part of Everton Under-23s Premier League 2 title winning campaign last season, and Everton should look to loan him out again in January, this time to a club where he can earn more regular minutes on the pitch.