Well he’s nearly ready and finally it looks as though Jean-Philippe Gbamin might be nearing fitness at last and ready to make his long-awaited return to the Everton team.
He’s returned to training and then when he first dons that royal blue shirt again it will be, as we’ve mentioned before, like a brand new player making his debut for Everton.
Despite his lengthy time out of the team, (over eighteen months), and all the changes that have happened at Goodison Park, he it still likely to be integral to his manager Carlo Ancelotti’s plans.
That’s because Ancelotti has still not found his ideal midfield balance and has been experimenting all season with a variety of different combinations.
Last summer he bought Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure and both have been excellent, especially the tall, athletic Frenchman who has been indispensible and has played virtually every minute of this season until he got injured recently.
Generally Allan has been the deepest lying of the midfielders operating as a first line of defence in front of the back four or five. But I think that he is better suited to a more advanced position as he showed against Leeds late last year when he was an influential and driving force from midfield.
Recently Ancelotti has tried playing a diamond in the middle when Allan was out injured and Tom Davies stepped into the Brazilian’s role, more or less.
He has been trying to find a way to get James Rodriguez and Gylfi Sigurdsson more involved and influential playing at the tip of that diamond prompting and feeding the forwards Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison. He’s even tried Alex Iwobi in that role too.
Then Doucoure’s injury has thrown all his plans into more uncertainty as he has lost the energy, commitment and box-to-box work of Doucoure.
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Thinking of the longer-term and once Doucoure is fit and Allan is back to his best, Ancelotti can try and reconfigure his midfield again.
If Gbamin returns then he can make that diamond formation work. The Ivory Coast international, signed to replace idrissa Gueye is actually best suited to playing in a deep defensive position and he has the strength and athleticism to cover ground well and screen the backline.
Then Doucoure and Allan can provide support either side of him, cover for the full-backs and also get more involved in the Toffees attacking play, something neither have been able to do much this season and that Everton need more of from their midfielders.
That would also enable him to play two attacking full backs with either a back three or two centre-backs, depending on the situation and tactics.
It would also perhaps remove the need for him to sign another defensive midfielder like Adrien Rabiot, who has been linked with the Blues repeadtedly recently. And that would mean the club can save some cash in this summer’s transfer window to spend on other priorities.