Conor Gallagher isn’t the only Chelsea loanee who Everton manager Frank Lampard will be watching closely, transfer insider Dean Jones has told GiveMeSport. 

The lowdown

TEAMtalk reported at the weekend that the Toffees manager had already made contact with his former club about a potential deal for the young midfielder in the summer transfer window.

The 22-year-old is currently on loan at Crystal Palace, and Chelsea are planning to integrate him into the first team at Stamford Bridge next season, but Lampard wants to place Everton at the front of the queue in case that stance changes.

He may be hoping to use his contacts and his status at the west London club to the Toffees’ advantage. After all, he is the leading scorer in the club’s history, ranks fourth on their all-time appearance list and managed them for 18 months.

The latest

Jones believes that, in addition to Gallagher, Lampard will be monitoring fellow Chelsea loanees Billy Gilmour at Norwich and Armando Broja at Southampton. The journalist claimed that he would be ‘amazed’ if one of the trio didn’t wind up at Goodison Park later in 2022.

Jones told GiveMeSport: “Frank Lampard will keep a close eye on Gilmour, Broja and Gallagher situations at Chelsea over the summer. I’ll be amazed if at least one of them doesn’t join Everton by next season.”

The verdict

As mentioned above, Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea intend to use the £19.8m-rated Gallagher next season, but will they be more receptive to loaning out Broja and Gilmour again?

The 20-year-old Albanian – valued at £8.1m by Transfermarkt – has bagged eight goals for Southampton so far this season, and that’s only two fewer than the Blues’ record £97.5m signing Romelu Lukaku.

Indeed, Broja’s goal return (one every 190 minutes) betters that of the Belgian (one every 198 minutes), so you wouldn’t be surprised to see him retained by his parent club in order to put pressure on the 28-year-old.

The £13.5m-rated Gilmour may be a more realistic target for Everton. The 20-year-old has struggled to make a positive impression at Norwich, with team-mate Kenny McLean compelled to publicly defend him in light of criticism from a section of fans.

If Lampard can convince Chelsea that the young Scot can thrive under his tutelage, perhaps the west Londoners could be willing to do a deal with Everton.

In other news, this Everton trio struggled against Southampton