Fabian Delph has been gifted a potentially final lifeline to save his Everton career after Andre Gomes was sent home from training by Portugal due to injury.
Gomes is understood to have been sent home from training on Sunday after the Portugal national side’s medical team decided not to risk the 27-year-old in Tuesday’s UEFA Nations League meeting with Sweden after noticing the Toffees ace was carrying an injury.
It comes as a bitter blow for Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti ahead of the new Premier League season, with the Italian in the midst of preparing his plans for Sunday’s curtain-raiser away to Tottenham Hotspur.
But Delph can see this opening as his final chance to impress Ancelotti, after it emerged the £80,000-per-week midfielder is a transfer target for Burnley after Sean Dyche’s side lost Jeff Hendrick to Newcastle United on a free.
A deal for the Clarets to sign Delph would be expected to hinge on the financial aspects involved, with the Turf Moor outfit operating on a much stricter wage structure that sees defender Ben Mee their highest-earner on a £55k-p/w contract.
Everton could offer Burnley more reasonable terms when negotiating a transfer fee if Ancelotti has decided that Delph will not be a part of his plans this season, having already bolstered our midfield with the arrival of Allan while still striving to sign Abdoulaye Doucoure and James Rodriguez.
Will Delph leave Everton in this window?
Yes
No
Delph struggled relentlessly with injuries across the 2019/20 campaign following his £10million summer switch from Manchester City, restricting the 30-year-old to just 16 Premier League appearances of which 13 were starts and last featuring in February.
His sample of game time under Ancelotti would hardly have left a glowing impression on the former Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea head coach, either, as Delph was at fault for Watford’s second goal in February before being sent off for two yellow card offences.
The former England midfielder also failed to make an impact against Brighton, struggled on his return to the Etihad Stadium where his positional awareness was appalling and let the game get away from him against Arsenal before Gomes entered the action.
If Gomes is indeed now injured and a deal to sell Delph to Burnley cannot be secured before the weekend’s trip to Tottenham, the Englishman must produce in north London if he wants to remain at Goodison Park beyond this week.
Get him out the door fast and most of the rest of them too, it’s been to long now signing shit players for lots of money and they do nothing for the club I love to bit