Another injury setback for Everton midfielder
The hours are counting down in this January transfer window and it doesn’t look as though Everton will be adding anyone to their squad as manager Carlo Ancelotti has revealed a major setback in Jean-Philippe Gbamin’s recovery.
It seems as though the Ivory Coast midfield enforcer requires yet more surgery and is unlikely to return to the Everton team before the end of the season.
This is a major blow, as it had looked as though Gbamin might be ready fairly soon to resume his truncated Toffee career. It also makes the fact that Everton seem very unlikely to sign anyone to replace him in this window a really disappointing and frustrating one.
If the decision has been made to go after someone, given the problems the Blues have in midfield, I really don’t understand why the Blues haven’t made more effort to get some midfield help in, even on loan.
I know it’s difficult to find the right sort of player in this mid-season window but surely there must be some realistic and affordable options out there?
I’ve mentioned a few players who might have been worth a closer look in past articles. Here’s a few more who could have been considered.
For example there is Fiorentina’s Erik Pulgar. He is a 26-year-old defensive midfielder who is certainly under the radar a bit but does seem to have the kind of qualities Everton need.
The Chilean player is sound defensively and has the creative qualities that would add to the Toffees attacking play.
Another possible target might have been Villareal’s Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa – whew that’s a name! The Cameroon player is another strong defensive midfielder and he likes to carry the ball forward, although he doesn’t perhaps offer as much in attack as Pulgar.
He’s also the right sort of age for fitting in with the Blues transfer policy.
So here we have two other players who might have been just right for what Everton need, especially with the news that Gbamin is out again for the long-term.
But it seems that the Toffees are not going to make any moves now and face the rest of the season without a good quality defensive midfielder who might have provided a really effective screen for the defence and supported the returning Andre Gomes.
This is frankly very frustrating, as by failing to bring any reinforcement in, I don’t think Everton have done enough to give Ancelotti the best chance to resurrect something from this campaign.
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Talking of Gomes, Ancelotti revealed that astonishingly the Portugal player might be able to return to the first team when Everton take on Arsenal on the 23rd February!
This is quite simply amazing news considering how serious his injury was.
It’s not even fully three months since he suffered that horrendous ankle break and yet he might be ready to return to action in three weeks or so.
This is at least something positive as I said in a previous article, and let’s hope that Gomes can find his best form as quickly as he’s recovered from the injury, the team will certainly need it!