View: Jonjoe Kenny deserves new Everton deal
Jonjoe Kenny may have revived his career at Everton under Frank Lampard.
Carlo Ancelotti didn’t rate him at all and at one point it looked like his future at the club is as good as over after a failed loan spell at Celtic.
Rafa Benitez did give him some games, but he was seen as a fringe player. By signing Nathan Patterson from Rangers, his message to Kenny was bold and clear.
Under Lampard, it’s a different story.
The new Toffees boss feels Patterson is a player for the future, and that he needs to be patient.
He gave him his debut in the FA Cup tie on Thursday, but the youngster was taken off at half-time.
Lampard didn’t want to criticise him but made it clear that Patterson failed to do what was asked of him.
The Toffees boss said, as quoted by the Daily Record: “It wasn’t necessarily a slam on Nathan Patterson, it’s not a nice on a debut; I thought he did ok.
“But from the way we were playing with our wing-backs I wanted him to break that line and he wasn’t, it allowed them to sit back, so the formation change helped us.”
Kenny came on in the second half, and Everton looked in much better shape after that.
At 24, Kenny still has got age on his side to become an important squad player for the Toffees.
He was superb against Leeds United, and was equally brilliant in the 1-0 defeat against Manchester City.
Kenny is playing with confidence and it seems Lampard trusts him as well. With Seamus Coleman still around, the full-back area is well stocked.
Kenny has a contract at the club till the end of the season. He seems a player being transformed, and now deserves a new deal.
In other Everton news, “proud Russian” Dzyuba posted a defiant response to Vitalii Mykolenko’s furious message over Ukraine.
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