Ronald Koeman hopes Manchester United can help Everton’s Europe dream

Ronald Koeman hopes Manchester United beat his former club Southampton in Sunday’s EFL Cup final to enhance Everton’s prospects of qualifying for Europe.

Southampton are bidding for their first major trophy in 41 years at Wembley but, despite enjoying two successful seasons at St Mary’s Stadium, Koeman will not allow sentimentality to shape his view of the League Cup final. He wants United to win and one of the current top four to lift the FA Cup as he seeks to lead Everton back into Europe in his first season at Goodison Park.

Everton are seventh in the Premier League but seven points adrift of José Mourinho’s team in sixth. Seventh would be sufficient to secure a Europa League third qualifying round place if United win the EFL Cup and the FA Cup winners qualify for the Champions League, and Koeman would welcome an early start to next season.

The Everton manager, whose team play David Moyes’s Sunderland at Goodison Park on Saturday, said: “It is true you need help from which team will win the League Cup or the FA Cup. In that way we hope United will win at the weekend and one of biggest clubs wins the FA Cup, because then it’s possible seventh in the table can play a qualification for the Europa League.”

The first leg of the Europa League third qualifying round is on 27 July but the extra workload, Koeman believes, is secondary to the importance of making “the next step” with Everton and attracting the club’s top transfer targets this summer.

He said: “Players like to be part of Europe and they like to be part of the Champions League. That is the best for football players but that will normally be impossible. The first step is to be part of Europe even if that means being part of a difficult European league on a Thursday or qualification really soon in the pre-season. We would like to do it and be part of it because Europe is the next step.

“Some players were interested last summer and, OK, maybe some wanted to see how we progressed in Everton for the future [before signing]. You will always fight against big clubs with more reputation and with more Champions League competition, but I think we are in a good way to get what we want in the team for next season.”

One addition to the first-team ranks could come from within. Koeman has been impressed by the defender Matthew Pennington’s return from long-term injury. The manager watched David Unsworth’s under-23s regain a six-point lead at the top of Premier League 2 on Monday with a 2-0 defeat of Southampton.

Asked whether more young players could follow Tom Davies into the senior side, Koeman replied: “It will be difficult because we have already big competition with our midfield players but I was really happy with how Matthew Pennington is playing and how he came back after his injury. Maybe he is one of the few players from that team who is really close to the first team.”