Everton U-turn on Lewis Warrington necessary after late deal secured
It was an incredibly busy transfer deadline day for Everton and one deal, in particular, has gone very under the radar amid the chaos.
With James Garner and Idrissa Gana Gueye both added to the squad, there needed to be a vacancy in central midfield and Frank Lampard finally U-turned on his stance about Lewis Warrington.
The 19-year-old had been earmarked to stay at Goodison Park and play a part in the senior setup having impressed on loan at Tranmere Rovers last season.
But with so many brought in to play his position, the opportunities to play were always going to be limited and Lampard finally allowed him to leave the club on loan.
League One outfit Fleetwood Town were the fortunate side to win the race to sign Warrington as his exit from Merseyside was announced 30 minutes after the transfer deadline on 1 September.
With such hullabaloo surrounding the two final day recruits, not much has been said of the teenager but his need for game time has been increasing all summer and now he has that chance to get some.
Lampard should be praised for trying to get him involved in the senior team because Everton fans would love to see more of their homegrown talent make the grade but they can’t do it immediately.
Every single one of them in the academy needs to play as regularly as possible while they are still learning and Warrington is no exception.
To have another top professional of years gone by in Scott Brown as his manager, Warrington should return to Finch Farm as a nearly complete player having been able to learn from Lampard over the pre-season.
Opportunities could arise next season depending on how the 2022-23 campaign goes at Goodison Park so he now needs to knuckle down and prove to the boss that he can play a part if given the chance.