According to The Athletic, Everton manager Marco Silva does not view Lewis Gibson as part of his first-team picture this season, and would like to recruit another centre-back in January.
The Toffees currently have the trio of Yerry Mina, Michael Keane and Mason Holgate as their senior central defenders, but they wanted a fourth in the summer, with moves for Kurt Zouma, Fikayo Tomori and Marcos Rojo falling through.
While Gibson is highly-rated at Everton and did feature prominently during the pre-season, the fact that he can’t make the League Cup squads speaks volume.