LAMPS: NEVER AGAIN!
IT’S GONNA BE AN IMPORTANT SU Everton gaffer wants to spend wisely so Toffees don’t face the drop again
EVERTON boss Frank Lampard says he NEVER wants to face another relegation battle.
The Toffees are eighth in the net spend table for all European clubs in the past decade.
But they finished 16th in the table and only secured their safety in their final league match.
Now Lamps will turn his attention to making his squad better and more balanced as he knows without that they could find themselves battling relegation again.
Lampard is well aware the reason they were in such a mess was down to poor performances, and he is keen to address that through recruitment and retention.
“It has obviously been second on the list of priorities because we had to get avoiding relegation done,” he said. “Now we will quickly continue to think about that because we have to take the club forward. We have to improve. I have to improve.
“I didn’t have a pre-season and now I and my staff do. Can we make the squad stronger and more balanced?
“I believe we can, and there will be things we will look at and it is important that we look at them quickly.
“We have Kevin Thelwell the new director of football now, we have the board who are interested in getting the best out of the club.
“We don’t want to be here next season, but we understand if we don’t make positive moves it could be possible, so we will be ready to move on that quickly.”
Six players – two back-up goalkeepers Asmir Begovic and Andy Lonergan, defender Jonjoe
Kenny, midfielder Fabian Delph and forwards Cenk Tosun and Gylfi Sigurdsson – are all out of contract in the summer.
Of those Everton may want to try to keep Begovic and Delph, for whom deals would be relatively inexpensive to do, but the squad needs an injection of fresh blood.
Dele Alli’s appearance for the second half against Crystal Palace saw him produce arguably his best display in four disappointing months since joining from Tottenham, and Lampard will hope he can nurture the England international back to top form.
The Everton manager will also be hoping extending their Premier League stay will persuade some of his better players they can still enjoy a future at the club.
Match-winner Dominic CalvertLewin may have had an injury-plagued season but he has been linked with a summer move, with Arsenal among the clubs in the hunt, while England number one Jordan Pickford and Richarlison are the only other players who could be tempted away.
Lampard plans talks with all of them to map out his vision.
“Those conversations have been on hold because everyone knew our situation,” he said.
Successful
“I’m not silly. Players want to play in the Premier League, all of those players want to, so now those conversations can start.
“You saw the quality levels of Jordan throughout the season but in the last six weeks particularly of Dominic and of Richarlison.
“We want to be successful, we want to continue in that way.”
What the manager does not yet know is what the implications of
financial rules will be, as the club has made a combined loss of more than £370million over the last three years and he could be forced to raise money before he can spend.
“I haven’t felt that to be honest, but if that is the case, we will sit down and try and work the best way through it,” he said.
“I know it is a big story, I know FFP, I genuinely don’t know the details.
“If I had my way, let me keep players who perform really well for the club and let us keep as far up the table as we can.
“My biggest thing here is that I want a happy determined camp that moves in the same direction and that is something we have to look at in every sense.”
Lamps thinks Alli could be a key man for the Toffees next season.
He has struggled for a number of seasons to recreate his best form but
Lampard is confident he can pull more performances like Thursday’s 45-minute Palace cameo.
“To be fair to Dele, in the last two or three weeks he has trained well,” said Lampard.
“I can see in his face he is disappointed sometimes that he is not playing. I am not silly to that.
“But I know his qualities, I saw them and that is why I brought him to the club. People will question why he has not had so much game time.
“There are reasons behind the scenes for that but when it came to the moment.
“It was a desperate moment for us at half-time against Palace and my feeling with Dele is that, because of the levels he has reached in his career so far, he can handle these situations in a game like this, because he has played in the Champions League, he has played for his country.”