Gbamin boost for Everton
Everton have received a timely and welcome boost as it appears Jean-Philippe Gbamin is ready to return to action when the Premier League season resumes.
Gbamin has had a nightmare time since he joined Everton last summer. He has been unbelievably unlucky suffering two injuries in succession, which have kept him out of the side almost from his debut in a royal blue shirt.
Now, finally, it seems he is ready to make a long overdue and welcome return to the Toffees team. This will create an interesting conundrum for manager Carlo Ancelotti, but surely one he will be glad to have.
It will be like a having a brand new player as well as Ancelotti has obviously not seen anything of him since he became manager in December.
The Blues boss has made no secret of his desire to see much more energy and creativity from his midfield. It’s been a problematic position for a while now and one made more acute by the sale of Idrissa Gueye to PSG.
Since Gueye left for the French champions, Everton have struggled to find a midfielder who can provide that running, ball-winning, energy and work rate.
This has adversely affected the other midfielders, in particular Andre Gomes, whose effectiveness was diminished after he lost his partner for much of last season.
Gbamin was bought to replace Gana. although he isn’t a direct like-for-like replacement, being more physically powerful but tending perhaps to operate a bit more deeply and not as much of a box-to-box player.
But anyway so far, Evertonians haven’t had much chance to see whether or not he could make a decent fist of filling in for the Senegal midfield dynamo.
As the Echo point out in their piece, having Gbamin back will potentially enable the Toffees brains trust to revise their spending plans for this summer’s transfer window.
That’s no bad thing given how uncertain the transfer market and the nature of potential deals will be, whenever the window does actually re-open.
If Gbamin can show enough evidence to convince Ancelotti and Marcel Brands that he will be able to offer the qualities missed since Gueye’s departure, then Everton will be able to focus on the other areas of the team most in need of strengthening.
In addition, Gbamin is also a versatile footballer who can and does play in central defence, which is another position in the team in need of reinforcement. In fact, in my view this might actually be the best position he can play for the Blues.
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He regularly turns out for his national team, Ivory Coast, in this position so has plenty of experience as a defender. With his qualities he could do a good job playing there for Everton too.
Doing so would also mean that the Blues wouldn’t have to sign another central defender, which seems a more problematic issue than finding a midfield enforcer and/or play maker. of which there are plenty around who should be more affordable in this new financial reality.
There are a host of possible options in central midfield, players such as Tiemoue Bakayoko or a player that Ancelotti knows well and Everton have been regularly linked with, Allan at Napoli.
Anyway, first of all lets see if Gbamin can indeed return, stay fit this time, and can begin to deliver performances that the Blues paid for twelve months ago.