Everton manager Frank Lampard has declared that Anthony Gordon is “our player” while refusing to be drawn on the likelihood that the winger would still be at the club when the current transfer window closes but admits that Dele Alli could be heading for the exit door.
During Everton’s pre-season of the USA, Lampard responding to reported interest in Gordon from Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United by declaring that the player was “going nowhere” but the 21-year-old is understood to have been the subject of an offer from Chelsea in recent days. Asked how likely he thought it would be that Gordon will still be an Everton player when the window shuts, Lampard said: “He’s an Everton player isn’t he.
“I don’t want to talk about hypothetical questions about what may be. He’s an Everton player.
“Firstly he’s got a huge value to the team for me at Everton. We saw that in his progress last season when I got here and felt that on the pitch as a massive player in the squad.
“He’s obviously a huge, valuable asset for the club, one that we’ve actually developed ourselves and come through so he’s a link to the fans, link to the club. That’s the story of Anthony Gordon.”
Lampard insisted that Gordon was unfazed by the speculation though and having led the line as a makeshift centre-forward for the past couple of games, was in contention to feature again against Nottingham Forest tomorrow. He said: “He’s in the squad for tomorrow, any chats I’ve had with him will remain private, I’m not going to sit here and talk those.
“As any player should have to do, they have to get on with their game, their own form, train well, prepare well, play well, he’s our player, it’s as simple as that.”
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When pressed again, Lampard was unable to assure fans that Gordon would still be at Everton at the end of the window and said: “You can’t ask me to assure anything.
“That would be naïve for me to assure anything, that I’ll be here at the end of the window – who knows? I don’t want to get into hypotheticals.”
However, with Everton understood to have given the green light for Dele to leave the club less than seven months after he signed from Tottenham Hotspur, Lampard admitted the 26-year-old could be heading for the exit door with Besiktas interested. He said: “There’s interest in Dele, I think that’s come out publicly in the last couple of days.
“I think that’s one for us behind the scenes to consider ourselves and obviously Dele has to consider that. For him to go it will have to be the right situation for everybody.”
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