Vitalii Mykolenko has hit out at what he describes as “a complete lie” about his Everton future.

Although James Tarkowski and Jordan Pickford last month followed another one of the Blues stalwarts at the back Jarrad Branthwaite in being under contract players this year to have penned new deals, Mykolenko is currently due to become a free agent next summer having signed for four-and-half years when he was snapped up from Dynamo Kyiv for £17million by Rafael Benitez in January 2022.

The Ukraine international has been first choice in his position for most of his time on Merseyside, and has made 131 appearances in total, including 34 or more in each of his three full seasons plus nine so far this term.

Although he seldom does interviews in English with the British Press, Mykolenko appeared as a guest on Vatsko Live, a YouTube channel managed by Ukrainian journalist, Viktor Vatsko and he was about a report which has claimed the 26-year-old does not want to discuss a new deal at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Sport Witness cite Tribuna as relaying his response as: “I don’t know where you read that.”

Vatsko then mentioned “Ukrainian insiders,”...