Carlo Ancelotti says Everton would "talk" about sending Moise Kean on loan if the young striker asked to leave before Monday's transfer deadline.
But the Blues boss has stressed the club's plan for the 20-year-old is for him to remain with the squad this season and continue his development at Goodison.
Kean has started just one of Everton's opening six games of the season and has only clocked up around 15 minutes of Premier League action from the bench so far.
The Italian has been ruled out of today's game with Brighton, due to illness, with Ancelotti making it clear that the £25m signing from Juventus has a future at the club.
Ancelotti says the target is give Kean more minutes than last season but with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison hitting the ground running with 12 goals in five matches between them, he is currently struggling to get a look in.
"I can talk from our side with what the plan for him is," Ancelotti said.
"The plan for him is to improve his quality, to put on him more knowledge and experience, more ability to work hard every day.
"It doesn't matter in our point of view how many games he is going to play, what's important is the fact he is really young and we need to give him minutes, I don't know how much, but the most important part is that he can grow day by day.
"After that playing more than last season. This is our plan. I don't know which is the plan of Moise.
"If Moise has a desire to go on loan we can talk about this."
Ancelotti was then asked if Kean had spoken to him about a loan move and he replied: "No. He didn't say anything like that. I explained to him the plan for his future but nothing different."
