Frank Lampard agrees two-and-a-half-year deal to become Everton manager

Frank Lampard has agreed a two-and-a-half-year contract to become Everton’s new manager and has immediately set about bolstering the playing resources at Goodison Park with the impending capture of Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek on a season-long loan deal from Manchester United.

Lampard’s appointment as successor to Rafael Benítez, who was sacked on 16 January after a defeat by Norwich City, comes about after final interviews were held on Friday with three candidates: Lampard, Vítor Pereira and the club’s caretaker manager, Duncan Ferguson. The former Chelsea and Derby manager was offered the job after impressive Everton’s majority shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, in his interview. Official confirmation of Lampard’s appointment as Everton manager is expected shortly.

Lampard has been out of management since he was sacked by Chelsea just over a year ago. The 43-year-old’s immediate priority will be to steer the club to Premier League safety; they are currently 16th in the table, four points above the relegation zone. The new manager’s first match in charge will be the FA Cup fourth-round tie at home to Brentford next Saturday, with his first league game away at Newcastle on 8 February.

He will expect to be able to call upon Van de Beek for those games after Everton agreed to pay the player’s full salary until the end of the season after he was identified by Lampard as a priority target, with Everton short in midfield due to injuries to Abdoulaye Doucouré, Tom Davies and Fabian Delph.

The Netherlands international, who has had limited game time at United under both Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Ralf Rangnick, was also wanted by Patrick Vieira at Crystal Palace, who began their pursuit some days earlier, and he appeared ready to