Everton Bid For North End Custodian

At long last, a snippet of concrete transfer news this morning, as Sky Sports understand that Everton have made a bid in the region of £200,000 for Preston's goalkeeper Andy Lonergan.

David Moyes, who worked alongside Lonergan during his time in charge at Deepdale, is looking for goalkeeping cover for Tim Howard after the release of Iain Turner and the want-away attitude of Slovakian Jan Mucha.

Custodian Lonergan, 27, fits the bill perfectly, although Everton may face competition from Championship side Leeds, who are able to offer the player regular first-team football following the recent departure of Kasper Schmeichel.

Lonergan trained with Everton last year as part of Iain Turner's loan deal with Preston, and will now face a decision regarding his future.

Trio Released by Blues

The Everton trio of Iain Turner, Hope Akpan and Kieran Agard have all been released, with the club choosing not to renew their expired contracts.

27-year-old goalkeeper Iain Turner has been with Everton for eight years after signing from Stirling Albion in 2003. Throughout his spell he was never able to claim the number one spot and only made six appearances for the Blues.

He made his Everton debut in an FA Cup tie with Chelsea in February 2006, but has since been unable to force his way into the starting eleven. He has been on numerous loan spells at Chester City, Doncaster Rovers, Wycombe Wanderers, Crystal Palace, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Coventry City and, most recently, Preston North End.

Midfielder Akpan, 19, had graduated through the Everton academy and was a regular in the reserve side. His only senior appearance for Everton came in the Europa League tie with BATE Borisov in 2009, although he did play some games for Hull City during a loan spell towards the end of last season.

Striker Agard, 21, made his debut as a substitute against Chelsea and leaves Everton with six senior appearances, including one in the defeat to Borisov.

Loan Watch

Within no fewer than eight of our squad scattered around the continent on various loan deals, I thought I would check on their progress at the temporary clubs.

Joseph Yobo moved to Turkish giants Fenerbahce in August 2010 on a season-long loan deal. He made his debut in the Turkish Super Lig in a 2-0 defeat, a game in which he had to go off injured. However, he has recovered to play in 21 of the 28 games so far this season, in the process helping his adopted side to the summit of the league. The most recent fixture (9th April) was a 3-1 away win at Eskisehirspor and Joey played the full 90 minutes.

Joseph Yobo has become a key player for Fenerbahce

Iain Turner signed for Preston North End in February 2011, on a 93-day emergency loan. He has replaced Andy Lonergan as PNE's number one, and his arrival has coincided with some good Preston form, demonstrated in consecutive wins against Scunthorpe, Coventry and Swansea. However, the form seems to have come a little too late in the season and Phil Brown's team are languishing 23rd in the Championship, with only six games left to try and avoid relegation. He was in goal for the most recent fixture (9th April), a 1-1 away draw at Portsmouth.

Iain Turner's Preston are relegation favourites

James Vaughan joined Crystal Palace in January, the latest move in a series of loan spells (Derby, Leicester and a previous spell at Palace). In all he has scored nine goals for the Eagles, including a hat-trick vs Portsmouth, and has become a key player in a team fighting to beat relegation. He scored the winning penalty in the club's last win, vs Barnsley, but couldn't help as Palace slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Ipswich (9th April).

Vaughan scores 1/3 of his hat-trick against Pompey

Yakubu was also shipped out to a Championship club in January, heading to Filbert Street to play for Leicester City. He has made thirteen appearances for the Foxes, scoring seven goals which included a recent hat-trick against old club Middlesbrough. He is a 'Wolves player' in my opinion: too good for the Championship but not good enough/ too lazy for the Premier League. Managed by Sven, Leicester have drafted in a host of marquee loanees and lie ninth in the table, five points off the play-offs. This weekend they recorded a 4-0 win over Burnley with Yak playing the whole match.

The Yak scored on his debut vs Preston

Joao Silva, signed in June 2009, was sent back to the Portuguese first division for some regular games. He joined a side called U.D. Leiria. Joao scored in his club's last match against Maritimo, but couldn't prevent a 1-3 defeat. He is likely to figure in their next match away to Setubal (10th April, 16:00). U.D are currently 10th in the 16-team Portuguese league.

Joao looks the part in an U.D. Leiria shirt

Shane Duffy joined Burnley at the end of March on a 28-day loan. He played 90 minutes against Ipswich, a game which Burnley lost 2-1, but has not played since. Burnley have slipped in recent weeks, and now lie 11th in the Championship table.

Shane has only made one appearance for the clarets

Kieran Agard joined Kilmarnock on January deadline day in a loan deal that went almost unacknowledged. He has indeed only made two substitute appearances for Kilmarnock and hasn't even featured on the bench for the last two games.

Agard has gone from bench warmer at Everton to bench-warmer at Killie

James Wallace joined League 2 strugglers Stockport County in February and made an immediate impact, scoring a wondergoal on his debut, although his side lost 1-4. He has played nine times for Stockport who unfortunately are rock bottom of League Two and look likely to be playing the likes of Newport County and Kettering Town in the Blue Square Premier next year.

Wallace has been a shining light in Stockport's woeful campaign