Frank Lampard may be joined by Everton midfield signing before transfer window shuts

If anyone knows what it takes to become a successful Premier League goal-scoring midfielder then it’s Frank Lampard so it’s perhaps not surprising to hear that one of his first moves as Everton manager could be to go for Donny van de Beek.

With 177 goals, which puts him fifth overall, Lampard is the leading Premier League scorer from midfield of all-time while his old Liverpool rival and now Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard (19 th on 120) the only other non-striker in the top 20.

At club level, he netted double figures in all competitions in no fewer than a dozen seasons in European football, even breaking the 20-goal barrier over five straight campaigns between 2005/06-2009/10.

During his final three years at Ajax, Van de Beek recorded scoring returns of 13, 17 and 10 but following a £35million switch to Manchester United in 2020, the goals, and indeed the minutes this term, have dried up.

The 24-year-old has just a solitary strike to show from each of his seasons at Old Trafford so far and is now deemed surplus to requirements.

It’s curious then that Lampard is being touted to make a late swoop for the Dutchman before the January transfer window ‘slams shut’ (copyright Sky Sports) on Monday night with what would be one of his initial acts as Blues boss.

Given that Van de Beek has struggled so much to adapt to life at the Red Devils though, is it worth Everton taking the plunge?

It’s true that Goodison Park has so far endured something of a chequered past when it comes to recruits from the Netherlands with more cloggers than Dutch Masters while the ‘curse’ even goes as far as Marcel Brands, the club’s director of football whose tenure ended prematurely in December.

John Heitinga once won Everton’s player of the