The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland has delivered an update on Everton ace Jean-Philippe Gbamin, who recently completed his loan move to Russian giants CSKA Moscow.
What’s the story?
Writing on Twitter, he said: “Everton are hedging their bets with Gbamin’s CSKA loan. No purchase option & Russian club paying sizeable chunk of wages. A chance – perhaps final chance – to show he can return to the levels reached at Mainz.”
Fans will be fuming
Since his big-money from Mainz, it’s been nothing short of a disaster for Gbamin, with injuries completely wrecking his time on Merseyside.
The fact that he has only managed to make eight appearances for the Toffees since his switch way back in 2019 is a sad reflection of how things have gone for the Ivory Coast midfielder.
Shedding some more light in a follow-up piece for The Athletic, Boyland added: “The main driver for this loan is to afford him the opportunity to put a string of games together and attempt to get back to the player he was before he joined Everton.
“The onus would be on him to convince Lampard of his quality ahead of the new season. It very much feels like a last chance for Gbamin at Everton.”
Gbamin’s stock has fallen so far through the roof that even former CSKA defender, Vladimir Ponomarev, said recently: “(President Yevgeni) Giner used to be involved in signing players. Was he removed? It can’t be that he did such a stupid thing! The man played 8 games in 2 years. It was not even worth taking such a player for free.
“Dynamo at one time took 8 Portuguese and nothing came of it. Giner used to make spot purchases. And now they have recruited second-rate players.”The Toffees simply needed to cut loose on Gbamin and accept that this was a move that just hasn’t panned out, but their inability, or even desire, to not include a buy option/obligation for CSKA at the end of the loan move appears to be prolonging the misery.Frank Lampard has already signed Dele Alli on a permanent deal, and lured Donny van de Beek in on loan from Manchester United, and no doubt the hope will be that he can add to his midfield ranks in the summer with some further quality additions.Gbamin just doesn’t fit into this new era that Lampard is building at Goodison Park, and knowing that he will be back in the summer rather than being permanently offloaded seems like a foolish call to make.It’s a decision that may have Everton fans fuming.Meanwhile, Lampard could find his own Mason Mount at Everton in this academy star…