Frank Lampard has endured what can only be described as a tough spell in charge of Everton so far, narrowly avoiding relegation from the Premier League and generally struggling to get his team to play the kind of football and achieve the kind of results that the Goodison Park faithful might expect.
The 43-year-old faces a crucial transfer window this summer and it looks to have gotten off to a solid start. With a deal to sign former Burnley defender James Tarkowski imminent, it remains to be seen who arrives next.
One player who has been linked with the Toffees is Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen, whose contract at Brentford expires at the end of the month.
The 30-year-old has impressed during his short spell with the Bees, having joined in January following a successful recovery from his cardiac arrest during Denmark’s opening Euro 2020 match against Finland just over a year ago.
He scored once and registered four assists in the Premier League for Thomas Frank's side, and Everton are crying out for a player of his quality to improve their team.
According to FBRef’s similar player model, Eriksen is comparable to Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne. If the Toffees could land the Danish maestro, he could certainly inspire them to enjoy a better season than the one they have just had.
Although De Bruyne played nearly three times as many league games as Eriksen last term, their stats are quite similar. The latter generated 5.08 shot-creating actions throughout the campaign, compared to the Belgian’s 5.68, while both averaged more than two shots per match (2.11 for the Dane, 3.15 for De Bruyne).
These figures demonstrate that Eriksen can still consider himself one of the elite, and these returns would have been much higher had he had played for a full season.
In terms of passing, Eriksen (74.4%) and De Bruyne (75.5%) both had a high success rate, which contributed to their respective teams' performances.
There isn’t much difference between the two players, and with the Belgian superstar being one of the finest players in the world, the aforementioned comparisons would hint that Eriksen is still up there despite his unfortunate absence from the professional game.
With Brentford manager Frank describing the 30-year-old as “world class” when he signed for the club in January, Lampard needs to act quickly to pull off this move, as otherwise it could be a major regret for the Toffees.