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The volume of information flowing into Finch Farm means that every step of Jonjoe Kenny's loan is being closely monitored.

And so when Everton's 'loan group', a select forum of recruitment staff and coaches and headed up by director of football Marcel Brands, meet to discuss his progress, they are armed with all the data they could possibly want.

Kenny is spending the season with Schalke 04 in Germany's Bundesliga, hundreds of miles from home, but it's far from a case of him being out of sight, out of mind.

He remains firmly in Everton's thoughts.

Brands has made a personal check on the 22-year-old, sitting in the stands to watch him in action earlier this season, but the Blues are doing much more than that in order to track his progress.

The club have access to reams of performance and physical data and so have a dossier of information built up from the 19 appearances he has made for David Wagner's side so far.

Kenny would have played in all 21 of Schalke's Bundesliga matches but illness, and then an ankle injury sustained in training, have denied him a full-house but there is hope he will be fit to face Mainz on Sunday.

All of his nutritional and medical data is also available for Everton to analyse at their Halewood training base.

Everton's German scout has kept an eye on the young defender while Gretar Steinsson, now the club's head of recruitment and development, Jamie Hoyland, the lead first-team scout and Dan Purdy, manager of scouting and operations at Everton, have also flown over to watch him.

Kenny has impressed.

But what will happen at the end of the season, when the Kirkdale-born player's loan is up, remains to be seen.

Schalke do not have the option to buy him, the ECHO understands, but the noises coming out of Gelsenkirchen are that they would love to turn the loan into a permanent deal.

Finances and, more importantly, Everton's desire to bring him back into the first-team fold may end up getting in the way of that with Brands opening the door to such a scenario in his report for the club's recent set of accounts last month.

“He was ready to play but we had Seamus Coleman playing regularly in that position,” he wrote.

“We needed to give Jonjoe, at this stage of his career, the opportunity to play regular football at a very good level. But we also needed two players in the right-back position.

“Schalke in Germany was a perfect loan move for Jonjoe and he is now playing every week.

“We are sure he will come back to compete in the first-team next season.”

Schalke may wish Everton were not doing such a thorough job in monitoring Kenny's season because even if the Blues were open to offers, suggestions from Germany are that they would be priced out of a move.

The very issue was the subject of an article in Der Westen on Tuesday and the newspaper's Felix Strerath told the ECHO: “David Wagner likes how he performs. You can see it in Kenny's statistics. He didn’t miss a game, just the last two games because of injury.

“The fans also want Kenny to stay at Schalke. They like his mentality. This is, what they want to see.

“In my opinion Schalke will definitely want to sign Kenny permanently at the end of the season. If there’s any possibility to sign him, they will do it.”

The relationship between Everton and Schalke is understood to be good with both clubs very happy with how the loan has worked out.

Kenny had offers from England in the summer but after flying out to meet with Schalke he knew it would be the right move for him.

Technical director Michael Reschke, formerly of RB Leipzig, was canvassing opinion from seasoned European talent-spotters who had knowledge of Kenny and their feedback was wholly positive and on June 10, a deal was struck.

He has solved a problem area for Wagner's side, the player is picking up valuable – and much needed - game-time in one of Europe's best divisions and Everton are pleased with his progress and the way he is being handled.

(Image: TF-Images/Getty Images)

Everton's first-team player care manager, Charlotte Renshaw, is also understood to make regular checks on Kenny to ensure everything off the field is going smoothly.

The defender, who has two hours of German lessons a week, has embraced life in a new country and has told of how the loan has required him to mature quickly.

But he is said to feel at home with many noting similarities in the look and feel of Schalke, to Everton and their respective fan-bases, with the Academy product quickly becoming a favourite in the stands.

As well as Everton's checks, he receives regular visits from family, friends and agents from the Stellar Group, of whom he has been a long-time client, and will do for the remainder of the campaign.

Brands says, right now, the expectation is that Kenny will return to Everton in July and begin competing for a starting spot under Carlo Ancelotti but the landscape could yet be shaped by Djibril Sidibe – on loan from AS Monaco and available for a pre-agreed £12.7m – the new Everton boss, who has yet to see the young defender in action, and if Schalke, or any of the reported other interested clubs, choose to act this summer.

But for now, Kenny remains focused on finishing the season strongly with Champions League-chasing Schalke and enjoying what remains of a successful loan.