View: Youth players could shine under Lampard as Everton boss
Youth players could be set for a huge boost if current frontrunner, Frank Lampard, is appointed as the new Everton manager.
His track record of developing youth players speaks volumes of his style as a manager. His managerial debut at Derby County saw Lampard hand more minutes to players under the age of 21 than any other club in the Championship and Premier League according to ECHO.
The former Premier League winner continued his trust in younger players handing a record eight debuts to academy prospects, the most of any Chelsea manager.
However, his spell at Goodison Park – if it happens – is set to be very different.
At both Derby and Chelsea Lampard was very much reliant on his youth players for different reasons.
The Rams didn’t have enough financial power to give Chelsea’s all-time scorer a war chest to go and sign players so rather smartly, he lent on his old friends at Stamford Bridge to bring in some of the hottest youth talents in the country – Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori.
Chelsea suffered a transfer ban in conjunction with losing Eden Hazard as Lampard took charge in west London, forcing his hand to turn to youth.
Players such as Reece James, Billy Gilmour, Tammy Abraham and, already established under Lampard, Tomori and Mount did well under Lampard during his short tenure in charge, but would they have been given the opportunity if Lampard could have spent big? Doubtful.
Throwing money away
Everton have thrown over £500 million away across several unsuccessful managers in the last six years and are likely to do the same with Lampard meaning he won’t be as reliant on his youth players as he was in his previous managerial roles.
The Blues have a history of developing great youngsters and there is plenty of potential in this squad should Lampard turn to youth.
Lewis Dobbin, Jarrad Branthwaite and Anthony Gordon, Nathan Patterson, and Vitaliy Mykolenko are all players in and around the first team who could hugely benefit from Lampard’s trust in youth.
The club are looking to enter a new era with a brand-new stadium on the horizon and putting trust in a manager who develops youngsters could be the right call because the Toffees have a hatful of them with their youth squads also being very strong at the moment.
If this appointment is to work out, Lampard needs to be afforded something the previous several managers weren’t – patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
In other Toffees news, View: Everton must be patient with Patterson after shock U23’s debut.