Everton Pull Out as Ethan Wheatley Joins Lincoln City on Loan

Manchester United academy striker Ethan Wheatley, 20, came within touching distance of a £2m move to Everton before the Toffees pulled the plug at the last minute, according to the Daily Mail.

The deal was reportedly all but done days before deadline day, only for David Moyes’ side to redirect their finances elsewhere. Wheatley has since joined Lincoln City on a season-long loan rather than making a permanent switch to Merseyside.

What the Daily Mail report says

The Daily Mail’s account, relayed by The Peoples Person, states that a £2m deal for Wheatley had been agreed in the days before deadline day, only for Everton to pull back with financial priorities lying elsewhere. There’s no suggestion here that United rejected the sale – this was Everton’s call to walk away.

It’s a modest fee for a player who made history at Carrington as United’s 250th academy graduate to reach first-team level, and who picked up four senior caps under Erik ten Hag and Ruud van Nistelrooy. Loans at Walsall, Northampton Town and Bradford City since then have reportedly dented his confidence.

Everton’s attacking mess

The withdrawn Wheatley bid fits into a wider story of Everton’s chaotic deadline day. Moyes’ side ran into trouble with Folarin Balogun’s medical, then made a late scramble for United’s Joshua Zirkzee, only for that move to collapse too, leaving the Toffees short in attack.

Wheatley, meanwhile, has ended up at Lincoln City instead, hoping the exposure gives him a platform United can’t ignore.

So far this campaign, Wheatley has managed only a five-minute cameo off the bench in the EFL Cup, while remaining an unused substitute in both of Lincoln’s league fixtures. This loan may well be his last real chance to prove he still has a future at Old Trafford.