Everton eye move for “outrageous” £22.5m-rated machine, Lampard will love him – opinion

Everton are eyeing up a move for Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher in the summer transfer window as Frank Lampard looks to utilise his connections at the west London club.

According to talkSPORT journalist Alex Crook, the Toffees are looking at signing the 22-year-old ahead of next season, having excelled whilst on loan at Crystal Palace during the 2021/22 campaign.

Valued at £22.5m by Transfermarkt, Thomas Tuchel will reportedly look to include Gallagher in his pre-season plans at Chelsea, although this might not translate to a first-team berth, with Lampard remaining on red alert for news of any opportunity to bring the midfielder to Everton.

Everton retained their Premier League status with a stunning comeback win over Gallagher’s Palace on Thursday night, but this still won’t be enough to satiate the frustration of supporters after a dreadful campaign.

Lampard will seriously need to re-evaluate the playing squad and look to improve the spine of the team ahead of the 2022/23 season.

Signing Gallagher would be a bold but wise move, as Lampard could build the Everton side around the England international given his tender years and burgeoning talent.

In all competitions this term, the 22-year-old has scored eight times (including a wonder strike against the Toffees in December) and provided five assists as Palace have had a solid start to life under Patrick Vieira.

Gallagher’s stats for this season on loan at Selhurst Park are excellent. Compared with positional peers in the big five European leagues, he ranks in the 96th percentile for touches in the opposition penalty area (3.06 per 90), the 97th percentile for non-penalty goals (0.25), and the 91st percentile for pressures (24.51).

These figures clearly show that,