McCarthy is part of Koeman’s plans at Everton next season

Everton manager Ronald Koeman says James McCarthy is a big part of his plans for next season.

The midfielder has endured a stop-start season with the Toffees this term due to injury and has featured just 13 times.

But Koeman says he is a big fan of the Republic of Ireland international and is looking forward to him being fit and ready to play next season.

Koeman said: “Of course I want to keep James McCarthy because all of the times when he was really fit and on his level this season, most of the time he was a starting player.

Picture: Getty

“But he’s had a lot of injuries and that makes it difficult, not just for him but also for the manager.”

McCarthy has not played for Everton since the defeat at White Hart Lane to Tottenham on March 5 and he suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury while away with the national team.

And despite being named in Martin O’Neill’s provisional 37-man squad for Ireland’s games with Mexico, Uruguay and Austria – Koeman says he won’t be joining up with the national team and will instead focus on getting ready for the new season.

Koeman added: “He will stay here. He spoke to the Ireland manager and they took the decision that he will not go to the national team.

“In my opinion that is a really good decision because he needs to recover and needs to get ready for pre-season.”