Carlo Ancelotti insists Jonjoe Kenny still has a future at Everton after signing a loan deal with Celtic.
The 23-year-old joined the Parkhead side until the end of the season on Deadline Day as Neil Lennon found a replacement for Jeremie Frimpong following the Dutchman's switch to Bayer Leverkusen.
There was no option to buy inserted in the deal, but with Celtic still needing a long-term replacement for Frimpong, Kenny would be an obvious fit for a permanent move, if he impresses during his initial spell.
Reports suggested the Toffees would part ways with the right-back for around the £10million mark - similar to the fee Celtic received for their recently departed youngster.
But Ancelotti insists the Englishman still has a future at Goodison when he returns in the summer.
He said: "Yes. He is our player from the Academy. He had experience in Schalke where he did really well. He came back and didn’t find the space or the opportunities to play a lot.
“So we decided to give the opportunity to play for six months to see what happens and he will be back in the summer.”
Ancelotti explained that Kenny needs regular minutes to continue his development and he has a lot of faith he can return from Parkhead to stake a claim in the Everton side.
He added: "We wanted to give the players the opportunity to have more minutes and improve their knowledge.
They will be back in the summer and we’ll see how they’re going to play. They are players we have a lot of confidence in for the future.”
