Everton manager Frank Lampard admits he doesn’t know how Vitalii Mykolenko copes with his family being back in war-torn Ukraine but insists the player is continuing to get support from his club.
Mykolenko led the Blues out as captain for Thursday night’s 2-0 win over non-league Boreham Wood in the FA Cup fifth round.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference for Monday’s Premier League trip to Tottenham Hotspur, a Sky Sports reporter stated they had heard that Mykolenko’s father was fighting on the frontline in Ukraine following the Russian invasion and asked Lampard how a 22-year-old living in a new country would deal with that kind of pressure.
The Everton manager said: “I don’t know how he deals with it because I’ve never been in that situation.
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“This is the whole point. It’s very easy for us to assume or think what we might think, we can’t.
“All we can do is offer support, whatever that means to him.
“I’m sure he feels that but at the same time we have to have a real understanding for what he’s going through himself and how we all feel about our families and the relative security we feel day-to-day, that’s been stripped away from him in a shot as such.
“So we just support him as well as we can.
“To give him credit, from the outside, and I try and be as close to him as he can so he feels my support, he’s – I wouldn’t say great – been dealing with it very well at face value.
“That support will always be there for him.”
Lampard was also asked about how the rest of the Everton squad have responded to Mykolenko, who joined the Blues in January.
And the Everton boss said: “His team-mates have been great. I’ve been here a short time and I’ve been really impressed with the attitude and the humility and actually the work ethic of the squad.
“A situation like this brings different qualities and the way they’ve rallied around Vitalii has been great to see.
“Humans interacting and supporting someone who is having a tough time.
“We have to particularly because he’s only just got here as well, not that would necessarily make any difference, it’s a tough time for him anyway.
“As a new, young player living here it’s important he feels that support and the players have been great and have rallied around.”
