Chelsea players Frank Lampard wants up for grabs if Everton are to let Anthony Gordon move
Chelsea “will not spend £50million” to sign Everton star Anthony Gordon but cash plus player deals should be taken seriously, according to Dean Jones.
The Stamford Bridge side have now made two offers to sign the Goodison Park homegrown star, who has expressed his wish to make the move, but the club’s asking price of £50million is yet to be met to convince them to let him go.
Former Eurosport journalist Jones thinks straight cash of that amount will not materialise but Toffees manager Frank Lampard’s interest in a number of players from his former side could tip the balance, with Armando Broja, Michy Batshuayi, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Conor Gallagher all mentioned as potential make-weights.
He said on the Done Deal Show for The Football Terrace: “They will not spend £50million on him.
“Of course Everton don’t want to lose this player so in order to get him Chelsea are going to have to come up with something pretty tasty for Everton to cave.
“The one thing that might help them is that Frank Lampard wants about four Chelsea players so there might be a way that they can work this out.
“I’m not really somebody that ever expects cash plus player deals to come off, but this might be one of those situations where we should probably take it seriously.”
Consolation
It is possible that on paper an argument could be made for it to be sensible to trade Gordon, 21, for multiple players either permanently or on loan to complete the Everton squad right now.
But unless it is another potential star of the future like Broja or Gallagher on a permanent deal it would be far more damaging to lose the Goodison youngster for the image it portrays.
The club has been lurching through turmoil for at least a year now, with the Farhad Moshiri era reaching an ill-fated spell under Rafael Benitez, fan protests, financial worry, and a relegation battle.
Through last season there were very few silver linings for the supporters to cling to, but the emergence of Gordon was one, along with the late season heroics of Richarlison and Jordan Pickford.
The Brazilian star has already been sold, much to the fans displeasure, and he wasn’t even a youth team product, so if they see the brightest spark from a dismal 12-months go at the same time it gives them very little rally around.
Clearly Gordon isn’t the only thing this club has, but it will be extremely unpopular if he is let go, to the point where until the Chelsea approach it seemed impossible.
If it is now to happen it absolutely has to bring in a major fee, or multiple quality players coming the other direction if the ownership is going to send a message of something being built rather than torn apart.