Long-term injuries cast grave doubts on key duo’s Everton futures

There is never a good time to lose an important first-team player to a long-term injury. That Everton lost two within days of the transfer deadline came as a massive blow but could, under more normal circumstances, be viewed as fortunate to a degree because there its still time to recruit replacements. Unfortunately, the Club’s recruitment team were already up against it this month without added urgency placed on their efforts.

The budget for bolstering a stretched squad is small for the winter window thanks to the PSR hangover of the £63m losses incurred in the 2022/23 financial year and while Director of Football, Kevin Thelwell, and manager, David Moyes, were confident of adding a couple of new faces with the estimated £10m to £15m available, they have had quickly had to reassess their spending priorities after both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Orel Mangala sustained what are suspected to be long-term injuries in the win at Brighton last Saturday.

Calvert-Lewin clearly suffered a new hamstring tear, ending a lengthy spell of regular fitness following the soft-tissue problems that blighted him during Rafael Benitez’s and Frank Lampard’s managerial tenures. Depending on the severity of the injury — the striker underwent scans and was referred to a specialist this week — he could be out for a minimum of 12 weeks.

Mangala, meanwhile, has reportedly ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, damage that can take anywhere from six months to a year to recover from; in either case, his season — and, therefore, his season-long loan at Goodison Park — is over.

It will be desperately disappointing for both players. Having stalled on further negotiations over a new contract, Calvert-Lewin was, no doubt, hoping to use the platform of a rejuvenated Everton under Moyes to either justify the enormous salary he is reputed to be demanding of the Blues to remain No 9 or put himself in the shop window for the summer when he will be a free agent.

For his part, Mangala was making the most of an opportunity to earn a permanent move back to the Premier League with Everton, having cemented himself in central midfield alongside Idrissa Gueye with whom he had struck up an effective partnership. Intelligent with the ball at his feet, useful linking up play and no slouch in terms of breaking up opposition attacks in the middle of the park, the Belgian international had been a significant upgrade to Everton’s midfield once he had made a starting berth his own under Sean Dyche.

He will feel as though he has probably done enough to convince the Blues that he would be worth their exercising the purchase option negotiated with Olympique Lyonnais last summer but the nature of his injury will place an unwanted question mark over his ability to come back the same player. Recent history suggests that he probably would but, as a club, Everton need to be prudent as they embark on an almost unprecedented rebuilding operation this summer.

In terms of the here-and-now, Thelwell and his team were already believed to be scouring the market for central midfielders while a wide player capable of adding goals was high on the shopping list. The injuries to DCL and Mangala will force an unexpected shift in focus now, given that Armando Broja is expected to be out until April at the earliest (that’s if he doesn’t have his own loan cut short and be sent back to Chelsea) and Youssef Chermiti has yet to play a game this season after suffering a setback in his recovery from a serious foot injury.

With only the ill-suited Beto available, Everton are in desperate need of an effective centre-forward but, as ever, they are not alone. Europe’s clubs are constantly on the lookout for goal-scorers and, in the Premier League alone, the Toffees are facing competition from West Ham and Tottenham, both of whom have bigger budgets this month. Those clubs, and any on the Continent capable of matching them in the market, will be vying for a small pool of available talent.

In terms of midfielders, James Garner’s return to fitness is a welcome and timely boost and Tim Iroegbunam is not too far behind, but there is still a big onus on the 35-year-old shoulders of Idrissa Gueye. The Senegalese has been magnificent in recent games and was rightly singled out by his team-mates for his stellar display after the final whistle at the Amex Community Stadium last weekend but he has required treatment on the field in each of the last two games and the word is that he has been feeling in his muscles the effects of his lung-busting performances. Some help in that part of the pitch can only help over the remaining 16 games of the Premier League campaign.

Whether there is scope or budget to add to any other areas of the team remains to be seen. The side is crying out for more creativity, invention and goals in attack, particularly with Dwight McNeil possibly also ruled out until next season, and the left-back spot still lacks cover but Moyes and company might feel like they can punt on that part of defence given the presence of Ashley Young and, at a stretch, Jarrad Branthwaite.

Some of that surgery to the squad may well have to wait until the summer but the manager and players can take another step towards tamping down the urgency by beating Leicester City on Saturday. A win would put a nine-point gap between the Blues and the Foxes and bring Everton to within 14 points of the magic 40-point mark. How quickly the outlook could have changed from just three short weeks ago…

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