Everton may have been given an early Christmas present after it emerged that Ivorian midfielder Jean-Philippe Gbamin is set to return to full fitness at the turn of the year.
The £23m signing from Mainz in 2019 has struggled with a serious quad injury which was then followed by Achilles damage which caused his Toffees career to falter.
He was brought in as a direct replacement for defensive midfielder Idrissa Gueye but has only made two Premier League appearances in what has been an immensely disappointing spell for the Blues.
The Ivorian has spent time on an intensive recovery programme at Finch Farm as he looks to accelerate his return to the team.
Fortunately, Gbamin may have a chance to prove his worth; Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti has recently indicated he is looking ahead to the New Year in terms of a likely return of Gbamin to first team plans.
In press conference quotes shared by Toffee Web, the Italian said when asked about Gbamin:
I’m waiting and the player is desperate to come [back]. I think today we have a talk with him and the doctor and I think we can start to look for him for the next year.
We hope that it can be a different year because the guy has had a lot of problems; he has suffered a lot and we hope that 2021 will be fantastic for him.
I don’t think [we will see him before the end of this year] but the important thing will be for him to start to train with the team.
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It may well be now or never for the Ivorian at Goodison Park.
If he can’t break into the team and put a good run of performances together once he returns from his injury woe, he may struggle to ever get going in English football – at least in an Everton shirt.
