Joe Ellis

Fri 30 September 2022 6:40, UK

Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton has admitted that he would be interested in signing Everton loanee Lewis Gibson permanently in the summer.

The 22-year-old is currently out injured at the Memorial Stadium but that hasn’t dampened the excitement for the Gas boss despite him being unable to play for the past month.

Gibson managed four games for Rovers at the start of the campaign in League One before suffering his injury having also been plagued by the same issue last season while at Sheffield Wednesday.

“For us, even taking Lewis Gibson, it’s one eye on the future,” Barton said, as quoted by Bristol World. “He’s someone we have taken out on loan. We think ‘okay, if we can do a really good job with him’ and he doesn’t manage to make the grade at Everton.

“I think he’s a really good player, the problem with that is we are trying him out a bit with his injury record. He’s new to Bristol and trying us out. It’s having that patience in the midst of building a new team and a new group together.”

No loss

One day, Gibson could prove to be a very good defender if he takes the right path for the next few years but you can’t imagine Frank Lampard is losing any sleep over the potential loss of the 22-year-old.

He has barely played for the Toffees during his time at the club and hasn’t pulled up nearly enough trees to make anyone at Finch Farm take notice and consider him for a first-team place.

The manager’s focus will firmly be on those he has right now at Goodison Park and perhaps those actually performing during their loan spells and so far, due to injury, Gibson is not one of them.

He also signed Conor Coady and James Tarkowski in the summer to solve his defensive problems which creates its own problem before taking into account the likes of Yerry Mina, Ben Godfrey and Mason Holgate.

For the good of the player and the club, it would be fantastic to see Bristol Rovers sign him permanently in the summer where he can start to rebuild his career from the ground up.