Everton striker Nathan Broadhead is injured again for Sunderland
Fortune has not been on the side of Nathan Broadhead as he tries to earn a new Everton contract while out on loan at League One side Sunderland.
The Black Cats sealed their playoff place yesterday in the final game of the season for the third division with the 24-year-old scoring the only goal as they beat Morecambe 1-0 at the Globe Arena.
It wasn’t all smiles for the Welshman though as he hobbled off injured and Sunderland manager Alex Neil thinks he could be a doubt for their playoff semi-final games against Sheffield Wednesday (where he could face fellow Toffee Lewis Gibson).
“I brought (Ross) Stewart off because I knew the scores elsewhere. He’s literally (our only striker)…I don’t need to say anything else, do I?” Neil said after the game, as quoted by the Northern Echo, which suggests that Broadhead will be unavailable for the key fixtures.
Despite having previously missed a lot of the season through injury already, Broadhead is enjoying a very prolific season in League One with 10 goals along with three in cup competitions in a combined 25 appearances.
Time’s up
If Broadhead was only 18, 19 or even 20 years of age then these injuries probably wouldn’t affect his career at Goodison Park but being 24 means that any knock could spell the end of his time at Everton.
It is already a bad sign that he is still being loaned out at this age having got nowhere near the first team at any stage in his career and Frank Lampard won’t be encouraged by his proneness to injury.
His goal record in League One this season is at least semi-decent with one in every two games but it’s highly unlikely he could recreate that in the Premier League next season, if Everton are still there.
His only chance of remaining at the club next season would be if the Toffees were to go down where his EFL experience could help fire them back to the big time for the 2023/24 season.
But it’s doubtful he’ll even get that chance and very few Evertonians will be losing sleep over his exit if that happens this summer.
In other Everton news, a supercomputer has predicted whether relegation awaits the Toffees this season or if the great escape is still on.
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