Everton made five signings during the January transfer window, adding experienced players like Donny Van de Beek and Dele Alli, as well as securing the signature of young talents like Nathan Patterson; and now Frank Lampard has the opportunity to put together a team which can pick up vital wins and climb the Premier League into a safer position than their current placing of 16th.
The Toffees are currently just four points above the drop zone in the league, and the former Chelsea boss has been brought in for a fresh perspective in finding solutions to the mounting issues the club has faced this season, with an injury crisis, fans turning on the owners in multiple protests and the poor performances on the pitch from the players who have only secured five wins out of 20 league games.
When Lampard was at Chelsea, he had a strong ethos in developing young players and giving them opportunities in the first team. This contributed to the success of players like Mason Mount and Reece James, who were both instrumental in Chelsea’s Champions League-winning campaign last year.
Right-back James was given his Premier League debut by Lampard in 2019 at just 19 years of age and quickly became a first team regular. The Everton boss now has the opportunity to emulate his successful development of the Chelsea starlet by giving 20-year-old Patterson – who was dubbed “amazing” by Scotland team-mate Che Adams – his Premier League now as well.
The Scottish right-back was signed from Rangers in January by Rafael Benitez after having a fantastic start to his career for both club and country. His most notable performance came from his latest Scotland start, when he scored the opening goal and set up the second to help his nation secure a spot in the World Cup play-offs, which take place at the end of March.
With Seamus Coleman now 33 and into the final 18 months of his contract, the signing of Patterson could be the perfect opportunity to start phasing out the Irishman and integrating more youth into the defence.
That would allow Lampard to mould the youngster into the player he wants to see at right-back, which could be in the more offensive role that we have seen from James at Chelsea. Patterson has shown glimpses of his capability to achieve just that when you look at his aforementioned performance for Scotland.
It will be interesting to see how Lampard sets up his Everton team against Brentford on Saturday in the FA Cup, when the Toffees return to action at Goodison Park for the first time since the 43-year-old took on the head coach role. Hopefully Patterson will be granted a senior Blues debut, potentially the first step to becoming Everton’s answer to James.
In other news: Everton must finally offload this flop
