Everton manager Frank Lampard has been backed to bring the best out of the club’s new midfield pair Dele Alli and Donny van de Beek as well as young talent like Anthony Gordon.
Lampard completed a whirlwind first 24 hours as Blues boss on Monday when he followed up Van de Beek’s loan signing from Manchester United with a major coup in the shape of Alli, who joined from Tottenham Hotspur.
Tony Cottee, who scored 99 goals for Everton between 1988-94, believes both players arrive on Merseyside with a steely determination.
He told the ECHO: “Donny has been unlucky in that he’s gone to Manchester United and it just hasn’t happened for him.
“I couldn’t possibly judge Donny van de Beek because I haven’t seen him play enough and I don’t think anyone over here has.
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“He must be a talented player but he seems to have been hard done by with what’s happened at Old Trafford.
“He’ll certainly have a real point to prove and that’s a big plus for Everton. They’ll get someone who wants to show why he should be in the team.
“Dele Alli is the complete opposite in that we’ve all seen the potential of a young man who did fantastically well for about five seasons at Spurs and then has lost his way over the past couple of years.
“He’ll come to Everton with a point to prove and I think that’s good because you want players who want to show they’re better than what they’ve been showing.
“I think they’re both really good signings, if you’re a midfielder, you’re only going to learn from playing under Frank Lampard who was the ultimate goal-scoring midfielder.”
Lampard has already installed the majority of his backroom staff but with reports that Ashley Cole could also be on his way, Cottee believes that the former England left-back’s arrival as a coach could benefit Everton’s leaky defence in a similar vein to the way Lampard’s presence will help the midfielders.
He said: “It looks like he’s going to get a really good backroom staff in there with him.
“ Duncan Ferguson looks like he’s still going to be there and you’ve got a couple of others like Paul Clement who is a tremendous coach and a good person. I know Paul, he’s a good man to have at the club.
“Now they’re talking about Ashley Cole – what a player he was. A lot of the problems at Everton have been defensively. If you’re a defender and you can’t learn from Ashley Cole then you’re not going to learn from anyone.
“There are lots of positive vibes about the coaching staff that he’s bringing in.”
Cottee admits that following the fortunes of his beloved Blues has largely been a painful experience in recent months, largely down to a hugely-controversial managerial appointment that was never going to be the right fit.
He now hopes that Farhad Moshiri and the rest of Everton’s power brokers have learned from their damaging dalliance of hiring a former Kop Idol.
He said: “I’m living in Southend in Essex now so I’m a long, long way from Liverpool so I’m watching from afar but I must admit I’ve been scratching my head this season – I don’t quite understand what’s gone on at the club.
“I just didn’t get the appointment of Rafael Benitez, from the start I thought it was a poor appointment that was only ever going to end in tears.
“It’s left a lot of bad feeling at the club which is horrible. I still keep in touch on things like Twitter, and I can sense it with the fans.
“There’s so much unhappiness and as we know that shouldn’t be the case because it’s a fantastic football club and they should be doing better, there’s no doubt about that.
“Once the decision was made to get rid of Benitez, for me, Frank was by far the most outstanding candidate.
“He ticks all the boxes when you look at what he achieved as a player. He’ll get immediate respect from his squad because they’ll have all grown up watching Frank play and that ensures his respect from them.
“I know that alone is not enough for a manager but I know Frank as a person, he’s a fantastic person, he’s a good football man, he loves his football.
“I think he did well at Derby but I think he was really harshly treated by Chelsea. They could have stuck with him but they pressed the button far too soon.
“It could well be a case of Chelsea’s loss is Everton’s gain.”
As well as possessing the pulling power to attract big name signings for the club, Cottee also believes Lampard’s faith in blooding youngsters will enable to likes of home-grown hero Anthony Gordon to shine with the new Blues boss also emerging wiser from his time in the Stamford Bridge hot seat.
He said: “All managers get the sack or leave a club at certain times. If you name any top manager, nearly all of them have had difficult experiences, particularly when you start your managerial career. It’s a tough job, a really, really tough job.
“Yes managers get paid lots of money these days and I fully believe that they should but it’s so difficult because you’re not just managing the players but their egos, the agents, their families, the fans, the media, there’s so much that you’ve got to do.
“I think Frank will take what he learned at Derby and then what he learned at one of the top Premier League clubs with Chelsea and he’ll pass that experience on to Everton.
“Frank will know, he doesn’t need me to tell him, that he’ll have made a few mistakes along the way, of course he has, but I also think you need to look at the job he did in terms of that he couldn’t sign anybody and he had to pick youth players.”
The 56-year-old added: “Chelsea have also made a massive profit on a lot of those younger players, with the likes of Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham being given the chance to play in the first team and that was all down to Frank.
“He could have stuck with the senior players like Thomas Tuchel has done but to be fair to Frank, he gave the young players, such as Mason Mount, a chance and I think somebody like Anthony Gordon could flourish under Frank.
“He’ll be someone who’ll have grown up watching Frank play and he looks a fantastic young player who needs to find his direction and his place in the team.
“I think we’ll see a bounce back from Everton over the next three or four months.
“Given time I think that Frank will be a fantastic appointment for the club. That’s the key word that you don’t always get in football – time.”
- TOMORROW: Part two – Lampard’s roots will serve him well at Everton, ensuring he’s the manager to take the Blues from Goodison Park to the new stadium.
