With great expectations for the 20-year-old, Everton feels that a summer loan move will be the best step in his development.

This comes after Football Insider exclusively disclosed in May that the Toffees had approved the defender’s summer loan departure.

Teams in the Championship and the Dutch Eredivisie had expressed interest in signing him, but League One team Orient, situated in London, believes they have a good chance of making an agreement.

Welch returned to Goodison Park where he played for the first team during preseason last year after spending the first half of the previous year on loan with Forest Green Rovers, a League Two team.

Reece Welch will be allowed to leave Everton on loan as Leyton Orient expresses interest.

Welch joined Everton at the age of seven, and in 2020 he signed his first professional contract. He made his senior debut in 2022.

Before the Toffees activated a break option in his contract, he made 23 appearances in all competitions during his loan stint at Forest Green last season.

For the remainder of the season, he played mainly for the Under-21 team and was left out of Dyche’s senior selections.

Forest Green, on the other hand, finished bottom of League Two and crashed out.

After observing the defender throughout his brief stint in the EFL, Leyton Orient is willing to give him a promotion to League One.

The team, who placed 11th last time out, has made the defender a top target.