Everton confirmed the appointment of Frank Lampard as the new first-team head coach on deadline day before presenting him with two new midfielders; Donny Van De Beek joins the club on loan from Manchester United and Dele Alli from Tottenham Hotspur.
Sixteenth in the table and without a win in five, the Toffees have brought in some new faces to help them scale the standings during the second half of the season. Vitalii Mykolenko, Nathan Paterson, and Anwar El Ghazi were joined by Van de Beek and Alli on the deadline day of the January transfer window but not before the club confirmed the appointment of Lampard as the new manager.
The former Chelsea and England midfielder returns to management slightly more than a year on from being sacked by the Blue – the club he had built his reputation at during his playing days.
The Englishman had shunned approaches previously from Crystal Palace and Norwich City but decided to dip back into the game when the Merseyside club came calling earlier this month, having relieved Rafael Benitez of his duties.
The task at hand is a difficult one for Lampard. Everton are sixteenth in the Premier League table, four points away from safety, and without a win in their last five league games. To help him keep the team from falling into a relegation scrap, the club hierarchy decided to sanction deadline day moves for Van De Beek and Alli.
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Reports emerged late in the window that the Dutchman was edging towards completing a loan to Palace, only for Everton to gazump the Eagles with a last-minute move. Frustrated by the lack of opportunities at his parent club Manchester United, he signs for Everton on a dry loan – the Toffees are required to send him back to Old Trafford at the end of the loan spell.
The late, permanent transfer of Alli came as a surprise. Once touted as the Golden Boy of English football, Alli had fallen off the radar drastically at Tottenham. Everton have signed the midfielder on an initial free transfer on a two-and-a-half-year deal. But, the fee could rise to 35-40 million pounds depending upon the player meeting certain targets.
Everton play Brentford in the fourth round of the FA Cup on February 5 – on the other side of the winter break – before taking a trip to face fellow strugglers Newcastle United in the Premier League three days later.
