Matthew Pennington recently admitted he may leave Everton due to the needs to settle down at one club after struggling for playing time at Goodison Park. The English defender has made only nine appearances in all competitions for Everton and has been forced to leave on loan five times (Tranmere Rovers, Coventry, Walsall, Leeds United and Ipswich Town) in pursuit of more minutes.

Pennington made the temporary switch to Ipswich over the summer and has gone on to make 15 Championship appearances this season. With Phil Jagielka, Michael Keane, Kurt Zouma and Yerry Mina preferred at the heart of the Everton defence, the 24-year-old has no way of getting games under Marco Silva.

As per the Liverpool Echo, he said: “It would be nice to settle down somewhere. I’m 24 now and I’ve been out on loan five times, so I guess it’s getting to the time now where I need to find a club, settle down and kick on. It could be here but I don’t know.

“It’s just up to me to keep performing and playing games then we’ll see what happens. I don’t know what’s happening with Everton. I’ve had a phone call or two from them but nothing more than that.”

After a loan move to Tranmere (17 appearances in League One) in 2013/14 and Coventry City (24 appearances in League One) in 2014/15, Pennington made his Everton debut in the EFL Cup against Barnsley on August 26, 2015. He went on to make a further five appearances that season while spending time on loan at Walsall (5 appearances in League One).

The following campaign saw Pennington make his last handful of appearances for Everton (3 league outings) and would go on to join Leeds (24 Championship appearances) a year later. And with Silva clearly unable to promise more gametime to Pennington, a permanent exit from Goodison may be required.

Stats from Transfermarkt.