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According to Ben Dinnery, Frank Lampard may not have enough options in the middle of the park until February because Everton midfielder James Garner won’t likely recover from his injury until then.
The 21-year-old was taken out of the game against Bournemouth due to what was thought to be a back injury, and he was not included in the group that travelled to Australia for the Sydney Super Cup.
The young player has yet to start a Premier League game this year after joining from Manchester United on the final day of the transfer window, and the injury adds insult to injury to an already disappointing campaign.
Ben Dinnery, an injury expert for The Athletic, thinks that although the initial prognosis indicated a brief absence was anticipated, recent information from Goodison Park suggests otherwise.
He told Give Me Sport: “So, this was an update from Frank Lampard again, [Garner suffered] an injury picked up in the Carabao Cup and missed out on game week 16. Subsequently, he didn’t travel on the club’s mid-season tour of Australia.
“The initial sort of prognosis was relatively okay, but subsequent evaluations and testaments reveal that it’s probably going to be towards maybe the end of January or even early February before Garner is back in contention.”
Although fans believed the youngster had the passing range and ability to thrive in the middle of the park for Everton, the midfielder has yet to fully establish himself in Lampard’s plans since his move from Old Trafford.
Given his two encouraging outings for the first team during the Sydney Super Cup, it might be possible to leave the door open while he is away for Isaac Price to burst through.
Garner might find himself suddenly far down the pecking order with Price chomping at the bit for game time and Lampard likely to bring in new faces to his paper-thin squad in January.
From the perspective of Everton, Lampard will have to juggle his troops carefully over the holiday season in order to emerge unscathed. The injury is a huge blow to Lampard.
It’s bad news for the team, but the player’s diagnosis is even worse.
