Frank Lampard has reiterated that recruitment will be vital for Everton over the course of the summer as they attempt to pull themselves back up the Premier League next season.
The Blues confirmed their survival in the penultimate match of the 2021/22 campaign in dramatic fashion, coming back to win 3-2 against Crystal palace at Goodison Park to spark emotional scenes from the fanbase. It will no doubt be an important transfer window for the club to improve the squad to try and avoid a similar fight next term.
Everton have already confirmed the arrival of James Tarkowski while a number of players have left Goodison Park, including Richarlison in a big-money move to Tottenham Hotspur. And Lampard is under no illusion that it's vital to get the club's future dealings right.
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He told evertonfc.com : “Recruitment – and who goes out – is a huge part of any football club. Particularly when you are a manager who comes in mid-season.
“The transfer window shut one day after I joined, so you work with the players you have straight away. But when you look forward, you think about how you can strengthen in different areas, ‘How would this look?’.
“It is vital to get that right. It will be a big challenge for me and the club… to make sure we go in the right direction, because it is clear we don’t want to be fighting relegation and recruitment will be a big part of that.
"I think about it [identity of his Everton team] every day. This job is like that and demands you think that way.
"Because of our situation at the end of the season, the now was so important and consumed a lot of time. But you learn a lot about the players every day.
"You see how you want to tweak the team and get where you want to be – to what would feel a team I love seeing and coaching; a team the fans love seeing, which is so important. We are a unique club and I have to understand what the fans want and give them at least the basics of that, because those core demands are the same as mine."
It's not just the senior side that will face an important few weeks, however. A number of academy stars have been involved in the first training sessions back at Finch Farm and could be looking to catch the manager's eye.
A selection of under-21 players have recently been tied down to new contracts at Everton, and Lampard knows how important that will be. He and Kevin Thelwell will assess the situation of every player, and the manager has admitted his is open to loan moves for certain people if the opportunity is right - either in the Championship or in foreign leagues.
He added: "The case for every young player is different. As a club, we have to find a balance between having a strong academy, in terms of the teams we put out, because we are Everton, they have to stay strong – but also thinking about the important part of every player’s personal development and whether can they make the first team.
"In most cases, the best route is to go out and play. Most players can really benefit from going away and playing football on loan, in the Championship and, sometimes, in foreign leagues.
"I am very open to that. Unless we feel their development is best served here in the Academy, or they are touching the first team – sometimes you want players training with you daily, so you feel you can affect them here – it can be the right time to go out.
"We – myself and Kevin Thelwell [Director of Football] – will be very ‘on’ those situations."
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