Everton should give ‘composed’ Reece Welch a chance in the first team
Options at centre back are thin on the ground for Frank Lampard at Everton right now with injuries piling up ahead of the run-in.
Ben Godfrey is at least back on the grass and looking a little closer to a return but Yerry Mina is still some way away from putting the blue back on for the Toffees.
Mason Holgate and Michael Keane have done adequately in their places under Lampard but the boss could do with more than just those two as his senior options.
Jarrad Branthwaite could be the answer but he has had his own injury issues recently and might not be able to be relied upon.
So perhaps the answer comes from the Under-23s and with Reece Welch who has been training with Lampard’s first team.
The 18-year-old has been highly impressive at youth level for the Toffees this season and is waiting for his chance to shine on the big stage.
The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland likes what he sees in Welch, describing him as having “Plenty of potential and, crucially, composed playing out from the defence.” via his personal Twitter account
It would be a huge and probably stupid gamble to play him against the Premier League champions Manchester City at the weekend but maybe the ideal chance is not far away for Lampard to see what he’s all about.
Following the visit of the league leaders, Everton host National League promotion-chasers Boreham Wood in the FA Cup and Lampard should be rotating against such opposition.
If Welch isn’t given a chance in that kind of game, he has to be loaned out somewhere in the EFL next season to get him facing more cunning, senior strikers and toughen him up a tad.
He isn’t ready to be the number one centre back at the club but he can certainly offer a very good alternative when injury strikes, as it is doing.
In other Everton news, CSKA Moscow are paying a hefty amount to loan Jean-Philippe Gbamin for the rest of the season.