Sam Matterface: Everton have been sold a pup this summer in terms of investment
Sam Matterface has sympathy for Frank Lampard after the lack of transfer activity at Goodison Park and feels Everton have been “sold a pup” this summer.
Everton kicked off their Premier League season with a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea, although there were plenty of positives to take from their display on Saturday evening.
That has led Matterface to allude to the lack of investment at Goodison Park this summer and believes Lampard deserves credit even though the Toffees’ season opener ended in defeat.
Talking on talkSPORT GameDay Podcast (42:18, 8 August), he said: “Anthony Gordon was different class working hard like a maniac as a loan striker which is not his preferred position.
“I think Frank Lampard deserves a little bit of credit after the injuries to Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey and they’ve already got problems for Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
“They’ve been sold a pup in terms of the investment they thought they were going to get this summer in regards to the FFP stuff.”
Positive signs
There were plenty of good signs from Everton in their defeat to Thomas Tuchel’s side and with a few more additions the Toffees could be in a decent position to improve on last year’s awful campaign.
The addition of Amadou Onana is superb work from the club, with the 20-year-old certainly a man in high demand throughout the transfer window.
The Times Paul Joyce has revealed (9 August) that Idrissa Gana Gueye’s return to Goodison Park is close as the PSG midfielder agrees on a payoff with the Ligue 1 giants.
However, it is clear that the lack of a striker has come back to haunt the Toffees, with the lack of a goalscoring presence there for all to see on Saturday.
It is now crucial that the club look to add a forward to their ranks in the coming days, especially after Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s injury.
Chelsea’s Armando Broja is a name that has been consistently mentioned, but the London club’s reluctance to sell is impacting a deal for the 20-year-old.
There simply has to be a name lined up as a contingency plan for the Albanian.
Failure to land a striker soon will leave the Toffees already playing catch up in their Premier League campaign.