LAMPARD’S UNITED RAID
Undaunted new Everton boss will set out to steal Van de Beek for starters
FRANK LAMPARD will be unveiled as Everton’s new manager in the next 24 hours and will make hijacking Donny van de Beek’s planned move to Crystal Palace one of his first jobs.
Lampard pipped current caretaker Duncan Ferguson and ex-Porto boss Vitor Pereira to replace Rafa Benitez, who was sacked two weeks ago.
The former England captain will immediately launch a raid on former club Chelsea to persuade assistant coaches Joe Edwards and Anthony Barry to join him at Goodison.
And then Lampard will set about trying to snatch Manchester United misfit Van de Beek from Palace’s clutches ahead of the close of the transfer window tomorrow night.
Lampard, out of work for a year since being replaced by Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea, faces a daunting challenge with Everton 16th in the table just four points outside the relegation zone.
His first match in charge will be at home to Brentford in the FA Cup fourth round next Saturday, three days before a crunch match at fellow strugglers Newcastle.
Lampard, who in his 18 months in charge at Chelsea qualified for the Champions League and took them to the FA Cup final, will become Everton’s seventh permanent manager in the last six years.
FRANK LAMPARD is on the verge of being appointed the new Everton manager, with a formal announcement expected in the next 24 hours.
But the task of assembling a backroom team has already begun, with Chelsea assistant coaches Joe Edwards and Anthony Barry expected to join him at Goodison Park if the contract is signed today.
Chelsea will not stand in the way of any coaches who wish to leave but had not been approached as of last night.
It represents a high-profile return to coaching for Lampard, almost a year to the day since he was sacked by Chelsea after 18 months in charge at his former club, during which he finished fourth, qualified for the Champions League and reached the FA Cup final.
Everton will also attempt to bring Donny van de Beek in on loan from Manchester United, trying to persuade him to join them rather than Crystal Palace. The United midfielder is keen for a move after a fruitless 18 months at Old Trafford, where he has been a bit-part player under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and latterly Ralf Rangnick.
Lampard faces a huge challenge with Everton 16th in the Premier League, just four points off the relegation places. He will seemingly have the fans onside, unlike previous incumbent Rafa Benitez, who was never truly forgiven by a section of fans for being a former Liverpool manager.
After an FA Cup fourth-round game at home to Brentford next weekend, Lampard then faces two vital Premier League games which could determine if the club is dragged into a relegation battle, away at Newcastle and at home to Leeds.
It will not be quite the same Lampard who takes over at Everton as the man who left Chelsea. The England legend has spent the last year looking at why he was sacked by Roman Abramovich and has been honest enough with himself to adjust his management style.
In particular, the 43-year-old privately accepts he did not handle Chelsea’s experienced players correctly when they were out of the team and also berates himself for not following his instinct on big decisions.
It is one of the reasons why his long-term No2 Jody Morris is not expected to follow him to Goodison Park, despite the pair working well together at Derby and Chelsea. Lampard feels their personal relationship was so close he sometimes delayed acting in a certain way because he felt Morris had an opposing point of view.
Lampard can be proud for starting to rebuild Chelsea in a period when they were under a transfer embargo. He introduced academy talents Reece James, Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham into the firstteam, a policy since continued by Thomas Tuchel. But the flipside was how established stars such as Marcos Alonso, Olivier Giroud and Antonio Rudiger felt about the new broom.
There were occasions when he could have rotated the team more to keep the seniors onside but chose not to. By the time they were needed, those players felt disengaged from the process. Lampard, always regarded as one of the more personable and intelligent figures in football, has been honest enough to look in the mirror and acknowledge mistakes.
It is why Everton might get the best version of him, having picked him ahead of Vitor Pereira and Duncan Ferguson.
Even if Lampard tries to develop Everton’s impressive youngsters, older heads such as Seamus Coleman and Andros Townsend will be made to feel part of it.
Everton are proud they have played more seasons in the top flight of English football than any other club and are one of only six to have been permanent fixtures in the Premier League. That is under threat following an abysmal run under Benitez. Lampard will need strikers Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison to forget speculation over their futures and hit the goal trail quickly.
In midfield, with Abdoulaye Doucoure and Fabian Delph injured, Andre Gomes, Allan and Tom Davies will need to step up.
Lampard has had a year out to reflect on his career. He will still be passionate and ambitious but maybe less headstrong than Chelsea’s players regarded him.
Lampard recently told Gary Neville in a Sky Sports interview that he was ready to work, although he had turned down jobs. He said: ‘I don’t want to sound overly selective, either, because if you want to be selective at football and look at any job that’s available, there will be good and bad about it.
‘The job is there for a reason. It’s open for a reason — bad results, the squad, whatever it is. I’m not scared about that.’