Forgotten defender close to Everton return

Yannick Bolasie and now Seamus Coleman have made long-awaited returns from serious injuries in recent weeks, and now it appears defender Ramiro Funes Mori could be on his way back very soon too.

Speaking to evertontv, manager Sam Allardyce said today that the Argentine international will be ramping up his rehabilitation, starting with getting fully involved in practice sessions before getting some games with the Under-23 side.

The Board have come under increasing criticism after January becoming the second consecutive transfer window without a pressing need at the left back position being addressed. Allardyce has attempted to explain it all away by saying that none of the possible candidates have been good fits for what they would have cost.

However, it appears that Big Sam is going to attempt to tide the team over until Leighton Baines returns using a combination of Cuco Martina, in-limbo former Under-23 player Luke Garbutt and likely even Funes Mori, who has played the position for Argentina, albeit with very limited ability.

“There’s still a fair way to go to get him back into match situations. I think he’ll be training with us for a couple of weeks and then probably have a couple of Under-23 games and see how he progresses from there. I think that is the way forward.

“One of the important things is that when he’s fully fit and if and when he’s needed, he’s available to perform at the level we need him to.”

While not ideal in the least, with just over 24 hours left before the end of Deadline Day, this might be the hand we have to play with for the rest of what is pretty much a lost season. If Allardyce can somehow rally the troops and put in some semblance of a system that could get the Blues challenge for seventh place, that might be the best we can hope for.