According to Rebekka Arnold [via MSN.com] :
“Lampard could land his dream Richarlison replacement in ‘Enormous Talent’ Coady Gakpo”
Brazilian winger, Richarlison left Everton in the summer to sign for Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of around £60 million, the second largest fee EFC have ever received for a player, just behind what Manchester United paid them for Romelu Lukaku in 2017.
Despite signing Dwight McNeil in the summer window, multiple Everton fans have suggested that Frank Lampard and Kevin Thelwell have failed to replace Richarlison’s goals with a new winger. McNeil scored his first goal for the club versus Southampton this weekend, however, the Englishman has never scored more than 3 goals in a league campaign, compared to Richarlison who scored the same amount of league goals last season as McNeil has in his whole career.
The blues were linked to many wingers over the summer, but non as prominently as Dutch winger, Coady Gakpo. Last season, Gakpo scored 12 goals and got 13 assists in the Eredivisie for PSV, but he looks set to smash that record this season, with 8 goals and 6 assists in 8 games, one assist being for Everton loanee, Jarrad Branthwaite, who was brought to the club by former Everton Director of Football, Marcel Brands.
Gakpo has also become a star for the Dutch national team this season, getting two goals and an assist in his last 3 games for the Netherlands, earning himself a starting spot.
The Dutchman has only failed to produce a goal involvement in 2 Eredivisie games this season, the most recent of which coming in a 3-0 loss to bottom of the league, Cambuur. Playing in goal that game was Everton loanee Joao Virginia, who produced a Man of the Match display, playing the full 90 minutes and making 5 saves throughout the game.
Richarlison was far and away Everton’s top scorer last season, and by not signing a goal-scoring winger as such, it can only be assumed that Lampard had put his trust in Anthony Gordon, Demarai Gray and the returning Dominic Calvert-Lewin to increase their goal-scoring tallies from last season, which appears to be working to an extent.
But with Gakpo having similar attributes to Richarlison, you can’t help but think he would improve Everton’s attack drastically. His mix of youth, being only 23 years of age, and experience playing for his national team and in the Champions League and Europa League with PSV would be a welcome and much-needed addition to Frank Lampard’s side.
Would you like to see Gakpo at Goodison Park?
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