Rio Ferdinand has issued a strong message to Everton midfielder Anthony Gordon on how he must act if he has aspirations of securing a mega-money move to Chelsea before Thursday's transfer deadline, with the Londoners' interest appearing to cool in recent days.
Gordon, who netted the only goal of the Blues' 1-1 draw with Brentford this weekend, has been the subject of continuous interest from the likes of Newcastle, Tottenham and Chelsea this summer.
However, it's Thomas Tuchel's side who appear the favourites to land the 21-year-old if he does leave Goodison Park in the coming days, with a £60m bid reportedly being readied by Chelsea.
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But with just two days of the summer transfer window remaining, Ferdinand has instructed Gordon on how he can go about securing a move to Stamford Bridge, while simultaneously labelling him as the "crown jewels" of Goodison Park.
"Is he worth that? Probably not right now," said the six-time Premier League winner while speaking on his YouTube channel. "Could he eventually be worth £60m? Potentially, he has the chance to do that. This kid is the crown jewels at Everton at the moment.
"They don’t want to see him go because of what that will do for the morale of the football club and the fans in the stadium.
"It’s difficult but if he wants to go, he’s got to go in and show the balls to go to the manager and the chairman and say ‘I want to leave’ and see how they deal with that."
Despite the advice of the former Manchester United and West Ham defender, Frank Lampard has already ruled out the possibility of the midfielder downing tools in order to force a move away from his boyhood club.
"Anthony wouldn't, shouldn't, couldn't do that with me," the Blues boss told reporters on Monday. "If he did try and sit out a game he'd see a different side to me. No doubt about that and I think he knows that.
'I'm not playing the hard one, it's just that it would be so alien from what I'd expect from him. I just know that's not him. At the same time he's not a robot and all this attention is difficult. I understand that, I was that ambitious young player.
"That's the beauty of Anthony. Hard-working. He wants to be better. He wants to do what he did (on Saturday), which is score goals, run for this team, and that's why he's a delight to work with. So there was never any idea that Anthony would act that way."
Everton travel to Leeds United on Tuesday evening as they continue their search for a first Premier League win of the season.
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