Report suggests Everton could ask to play Lewis Gibson amid injury crisis

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It appears that Everton might be without Yerry Mina for the rest of the season once the Premier League gets restarted. The Colombian defender has suffered a thigh tear which could see him miss much of the rest of 2019-20 campaign. 

It puts Everton in a difficult position regarding defensive options. 

Everton will have just Mason Holgate and Michael Keane as recognised centre-back options when the season gets back underway. Other options, such as Jean-Philippe Gbamin, are also injured whilst Morgan Feeney, the under-23 defender with first-team experience, has been told he is being released on June 30th. 

According to The Guardian, one potential solution could be a £6 million signing that Everton fans have been dying to see in first-team action. 

The report claims that Everton would require ‘special dispensation’ to re-register Lewis Gibson for the final nine games of the season. 

Gibson was sent to Fleetwood Town on loan until the end of June but could now play a part in Everton’s Premier League season.

The Toffees signed the defender from Newcastle United in a deal worth an eventual £6 million in 2017, as reported by the Liverpool Echo. 

The impressive England youth international, who can also play at left-back, has since struggled to make a first-team impact at Goodison Park and has been linked with numerous moves away from Merseyside. 

Last summer, he impressed in preseason but Marco Silva later told the Liverpool Echo ‘he’s not ready’ for first-team level football. Everton eventually tied Gibson down to a new deal, expiring in 2022, this January at which point Gibson spoke to the club’s official website about his chats with Everton director of football Marcel Brands regarding his future. 

“I’ve had a few conversations with Marcel over the past few months and the chats went well.

“He explained his plans for me and plans for the club and they excited me so I couldn’t wait to sign.

“I feel I’ve developed massively since I joined the club.”

So clearly, Gibson is on the radar of the club’s hierarchy and could play a part in the final stretch of this extremely unique Premier League campaign. 

Perhaps, finally, Everton fans might get a chance to see what all the fuss is about regarding this 19-year-old prodigy.