Lewis Warrington form provides Frank Lampard healthy dilemma with Everton
On-loan Everton midfielder Lewis Warrington put in a man-of-the-match performance for Fleetwood Town in the second round of the FA Cup and is banging down the door for a return to Goodison Park.
The 20-year-old assisted the winning goal in his side’s 1-0 win against Ebbsfleet United and continued his rich vein of form for the League One outfit.
The Birkenhead-born midfielder signed for Everton at the age of six and worked his way up through the different youth levels at relative ease before stumbling on the cusp of the first-team squad.
At the end of the 2020/21 season, Warrington received the Sir Philip Carter Award – given to the player “who has shown first-class commitment and achievement in his education while at the academy”, proving he was a future Toffee regular in waiting. [Evertonfc.com]
However, the midfielder struggled to assert himself into Frank Lampard’s plans on the Merseyside – and although he did make his first-team debut against Fleetwood Town in the League Cup – he would join that exact club just a week later.
Under the management of Scott Brown this season, the 20-year-old has been an ever-present in the starting XI, scoring his first goal for the Cod Army in their FA Cup first-round victory against Oxford City.
Backing up his beautiful opening goal for the club with another assured performance in the second round of the FA Cup demonstrates how Warrington has far too much quality to be languishing in the third tier of English football, with Lampard surely monitoring his process closely.
A return to Goodison Park in January may not be far away for the Everton graduate, with the current first-choice midfielders at the club failing to impress for large portions of the season – culminating in three heavy defeats prior to the World Cup break.
There are still numerous roadblocks in Warrington’s path, with James Garner, and Abdoulaye Doucoure often occupying the bench this season, but the 20-year-old could add a much-needed sense of youth and positivity to the otherwise languid Everton midfield.