Everton forward mulling over his future after approach is made

Everton striker Tom Cannon is mulling over his future - when it comes to who he represents internationally.

Cannon thrived on loan at Preston North End during the second half of last season. The striker bagged eight goals in 21 games in what was his maiden taste of regular senior football.

Cannon's exploits saw him break into the Republic of Ireland under-21 set-up - scoring on his debut in a friendly against Iceland in March.

The Toffees academy product, 20, was set to train the Eire senior squad during a training camp at Bristol City's base last month but had to pull out because of illness.

The Republic are preparing for Euro 2024 qualifiers against Greece and Gibraltar but Cannon was expected to again link-up with the under-21s.

However, England under-21s have expressed interest in Cannon - and now he's taking to time 'reflect' on his future decision.

Via the Irish Independent, Ireland boss Stephen Kenny said: It’s better to be honest about these things. “I saw the story breaking in one of the English papers.

"Tom hasn’t said anything to me about that. Now obviously he had tonsillitis and pulled out of the camp – and he had tonsillitis to be honest with you – and it sort of made it difficult selecting him (for the seniors) because he hadn’t been doing training, he hadn’t been doing the programmes that we had set. He has a good attitude and is a good lad but I have spoken to his agent subsequently before the under-21s squad was selected.

"His agent is Kenny Moyes, and he just said: ‘Let’s get this camp out of the way and we’ll come and meet you and have a chat’. He said: ‘Obviously, England under-21s have made an approach’ and he just needed a bit of time to reflect and see what the situation was and wanted to speak to me after the camp, sit down and have a conversation.”

Cannon is under contract at Everton until the summer of 2025.