Ben Godfrey is in a "decent place" as he begins his recovery from a fractured fibula.
The defender has begun his rehabilitation work at Finch Farm having had surgery earlier this week. He is expected to be out for around three months - and comes after he was ruled out of the final games of last season through injury.
Frank Lampard said the 24-year-old was responding well to the setback and pointed to the lengthy mid-season World Cup break as an opportunity for him to rebuild fitness without missing additional games.
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Godfrey was stretchered off the Goodison Park pitch after suffering the fracture in the early stages of the season opener with Chelsea. He sustained the injury while challenging Kai Havertz in front of the Gwladys Street end. That night he took to social media to acknowledge the support he had received, writing: "It’s part of the game, thank you for all the messages I appreciate it."
Everton confirmed he had surgery - which the club said was a success - on Monday morning and that he was expected to be out for three months. The Premier League halts for the World Cup in mid-November, with Everton's last game before the break against Bournemouth on November 12.
Asked how Godfrey had responded to his injury news, Lampard said: "He is positive, he is a positive lad. Obviously he was really disappointed straight after. He was in a good place, he was fit, he had had a good pre-season after a few injuries last year. This was a freak injury and it is really hard, that one, to tell him to be positive, because I know the position he is in.
"But the reality is if it is three months or so it falls in a season where we have a winter break, which is a six week break in effect in and around hopefully when Ben will be coming back, so it might give him a nice little buffer of working on his fitness at that point... He will get there and he will be back in and around it, that is our message to him. He is in a decent place considering the injury."
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