Asked to identify the biggest quality Conor Coady thinks he can bring to Everton, he said: "I think just helping people as much as I possibly can."
When faced with a similar question after his debut at the weekend, James Tarkowski responded: "I feel it's part of my job to go in there and to try and lead and guide and help people." During the depths of last season's relegation battle, much was made of an alleged lack of leadership within a team that repeatedly appeared to collapse on the pitch.
There were influential figures at the club, as has since become clear during the post mortem of that campaign. But Coady and Tarkowski strengthen Everton through more ways than their ability on the pitch.
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Everton's lack of resilience was repeatedly evident during a campaign most Blues will want to forget. They conceded four goals in the last 12 minutes as they crumbled from a winning position against Watford, let in five at Tottenham Hotspur and Lampard questioned the squad's character following the 4-0 FA Cup defeat to Crystal Palace. Everton lost a must-not-lose trip to Burnley from a winning position and had two players sent off in the chaotic 3-2 defeat to Brentford.
There were mitigating factors. Injuries, illness and poor decisions plagued Everton last year. Strong characters did come to the fore too. The aftermath of that campaign has revealed the crucial roles played by the likes of club captain Seamus Coleman, a character whose influence Frank Lampard has hailed as key. Jordan Pickford emerged as the player who, as Coleman recovers from injury, now has the captain's armband.
But personality has clearly been a consideration in Everton's summer recruitment as Lampard, a manager who demands commitment, now has two more players who will lead the way in professionalism, experience and leadership. And not only do they possess attributes required in all successful dressing rooms, Coady and Tarkowski clearly relish the prospect of helping those around them.
In the club interview that announced him as an Everton player, and in response to the question about his biggest attribute, Coady said: "I think just helping people as much as I possibly can. Listen, I'm here to give absolutely everything I have got for this football club, that's something I do every day, I come in every day to try and help the lads and help the football club move forward and I'll give absolutely everything I have got every single day so, in terms of my own qualities and what I bring, I try and speak as much as possible and communicate and give absolutely everything to prepare right for what comes on a weekend because the most important thing for this club is winning games and making sure we are going out and making supporters happy but improving the club at the same time and that's all I am here and listen, I can't wait to get started."
Asked after the Chelsea game what he can bring to the Blues, Tarkowski said: "I am one of the older heads around here. It is quite a young side and I am fairly experienced, I have played quite a few games at this level now, so I feel it's part of my job to go in there and to try and lead and guide and help people. Especially someone in my position because I can see the entire pitch, so it is my job and it is something I really enjoy."
Everton have a spine of strong, positive characters desperate to take responsibility and keen to help others. This summer, Lampard and director of football Kevin Thelwell have essentially adopted a dual transfer window strategy. In Coady and Tarkowski, both 29, they have signed players who will strengthen the first team and make the side more resilient and competitive.
In the 20-year-old midfielder Amadou Onana and Dwight McNeil, who has 134 Premier League appearances to his name but is only 22, they have recruited players with the potential to grow with the club they are trying to build. Thelwell is also leading an overhaul of Finch Farm that places a new-found emphasis on developing young players and creating a pathway from the academy to the first team.
Far from contradict that approach, the signings of Coady and Tarkowski will complement it. They are likely to be role models who will provide support to those alongside them on the pitch - like Nathan Patterson, who made his first Premier League start on Saturday, Onana, who will play in front of them and academy starlets Reece Welch, Lewis Warrington and Stanley Mills, all of whom are around the first team squad. The theme of strong, positive characters is consistent across both strategic transfer approaches though. While patience will be required as Onana establishes himself in English football, he has captained Belgium's talented Under-21s. So it appears Lampard and Thelwell are not just building a squad of leaders for now. They are building a squad of strong characters for the future as well.
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