As the younger element of one of football’s best-known father and son duos – and surely the most-illustrious to share the same name – Frank Lampard would be best-served solving Everton’s midfield problems by regenerating himself. However, in the absence of a time machine that can turn back the clock a couple of decades, the Blues boss, who celebrated his 44th birthday earlier this week, instead must look for others to try and emulate the kind of role he fulfilled with such vigour during his own playing days.
Given that Lampard moved from West Ham United to Chelsea for £11million back in 2001 at a time when Everton’s record transfer fee was little more than half that amount, in truth the Blues could probably have never afforded him in his pomp. At Stamford Bridge, Lampard would develop into the most-prolific midfielder in Premier League history and currently sitting sixth on the competition’s all-time scorer’s list with 177 goals, he remains the only non-striker in the top 19.
While Everton, like all clubs, would welcome somebody with such potency, they’d probably settle for someone who can offer them a bit more running and bite. When it came to the ECHO’s player ratings for last season, Fabian Delph enjoyed their highest average mark among squad members who had turned out more than once but given that he only figured in 11 matches, it was little surprised that he wasn’t offered a new deal with his contract expiring at the end of this month.
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The likes of Allan and Andre Gomes often found themselves overrun last term and while Abdoulaye Doucoure is able to cover more ground, a couple of injuries saw his impressive early season form tail off. So who does Lampard turn to in order to beef things up in the engine room?
Much may ultimately depend on a combination of who becomes available over the coming weeks and how much Everton might potentially recoup in a major player sale. Richarlison appears to be the most-likely candidate on that score right now having cast doubt over his future with his comments at the end of May. But the Blues must realise that they’re going to have to hold out for considerably more than the figure of just over £50million that has been mentioned in speculation, which would hardly even cover their outlay on him once wages and a sell-on clause to Watford are taken into consideration.
Chelsea are the latest side offering Champions League football to consider a move for the 25-year-old but given that he’s a proven Premier League performer who regularly leads the line for Brazil, any potential suitors must offer Goodison Park chiefs a significant profit for their talisman who seems irreplaceable, certainly in terms of any sort of like-for-like alternative. The amount of funds generated could then be ploughed back into the squad but other than wags (as in jokers, not footballers’ partners, Gareth Southgate tells us that term is disrespectful now), who have asked that he be handed the squad number 40, there’s been a distinctly underwhelming reaction among many among Everton’s long-suffering fanbase to the ECHO revealing that the club has held talks with Tottenham Hotspur over signing Harry Winks.
While neat and tidy in possession, as you’d expect from a Spurs midfielder, questions have been raised as to just what else Winks might offer. Lampard spoke on his arrival about a desire for his players to ‘enjoy the ball’ but when the demands of a relegation dogfight required a more pragmatic approach, he found more success in allowing opponents to dominate possession while maintaining a disciplined shape to pick them off.
Perhaps Winks could facilitate a shift to the kind of game that better suits the manager’s ‘footballing philosophy’ but is being able to pick out a team-mate really enough? In terms of scoring output, Winks, who hasn’t found the net in the Premier League since a last-minute winner at Fulham in January 2019, is something of the antithesis of Lampard given that he’s only ever registered two goals in 128 top-flight matches.
A look at Winks’ statistics from last season using Comparisonator showed that while he topped Allan in all their offensive and passing categories, the Brazilian was ahead of him in every defensive parameter. Against Doucoure it was more of a mixed bag and based on these figures, while he potentially offers Everton a different dimension in midfield, it remains to be seen whether such returns are deemed sufficient to change the way they play while improving the side.
Another player being linked with the Blues is Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko, who offers an alternative to Winks. Although all of his Premier League outings for last season’s champions were at left-back, a switch to Goodison Park could enable him not only to get the more regular football he desires, but an opportunity to play in his favoured role as a box-to-box midfielder like he often does for his country. A preference for the Ukrainian – certainly when placed in a head-to-head with Winks – seems almost universal among Evertonians, who were also receptive to the idea of Conor Gallagher coming in a part-exchange if Chelsea act on their interest in Richarlison.
As loyal supporters, some stated that they would of course respect the manager’s judgement and back Winks if he came in. But if online comments are any kind of yardstick when it comes to the mood of the Goodison Park faithful, then there seems very little appetite for a recruit of this sort. Football clubs cannot of course be guided entirely in their recruitment policy by those in the stands and it would be disrespectful to dismiss the professional opinions of Lampard and director of football Kevin Thelwell, who will grasp the nuances of what’s required to succeed in the Premier League much better than either you or I (both this correspondent and colleague Adam Jones expressed concerns over Winks' suitability on a recent episode of the Royal Blue podcast).
However, it would also be prudent for the pair not to ignore such widespread concern from those who are the life and soul of Everton, most of whom have been watching the team for many years and will still be there after they’ve both gone. They have painfully witnessed transfers that seem to be hauntingly familiar to Winks in the past and they don’t want to go through another potentially expensive and frustrating groundhog day.
It’s not by accident that Tottenham owner Daniel Levy possesses a reputation for being one of football’s shrewdest negotiators, and the Blues are still to see much return from the highly-structured deal they stuck for Dele Alli on the day that Lampard arrived with the midfielder having started just one game – the 5-1 thrashing at Arsenal after the team’s Premier League status had been secured. Other ball-playing midfielders have ventured north from Spurs in past decades such as Simon Davies and Vinny Samways and wilted on Merseyside, looking a shadow of their former selves when at White Hart Lane and that seems to be the major fear here.
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