Midfielder chooses Everton over Crystal Palace

BREAKING: Sources are reporting that Donny van de Beek has chosen to join Everton on loan over Crystal Palace!

Everton are expected to confirm the appointment of Frank Lampard as their next permanent manager some time on Sunday, and it’s looking like they’re trying to welcome him to Merseyside by signing a midfielder cut from the same cloth as the former Chelsea player.

The Toffees had been linked with a move for Manchester United’s Donny van de Beek over the summer, before the then manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer put an end to rumours by insisting the Dutchman was not available. However, he then proceeded to not give the 24-year-old much playing time despite promising to do so, and ended up getting the sack himself.

Not that far away down the M62, the two men charged with bringing in players to the Blues over the summer transfer window are both gone, with Director of Football Marcel Brands leaving his post and manager Rafa Benitez getting shown the door after a string of poor results.

Despite the pair’s departure though interest in van de Beek has continued and in many ways made more pressing with the rash of injuries suffered by the midfield corps. Tom Davies had to have surgery that will keep him out of action for another couple of months. Fabian Delph has incurred a thigh ailment that likely might see him not play again until the end of the season. And now Abdoulaye Doucoure sustained a hamstring injury in the loss last week to Aston Villa that could mean him missing up to a month or so.

Allan has just recovered from a bout of COVID and is still regaining his fitness, while Andre Gomes has not been at his best when pressed into a starting role. Benitez showed no faith at all in Jean-Philippe Gbamin amid rumours that he could be moved in January. That just leaves teenager Tyler Onyango, who despite showing flashes of great potential, is still too raw to be thrust into the limelight.

With Ralf Rangnick now in charge at United, it appears van de Beek has finally been given the freedom to find a club in the January transfer window. While the Toffees lurched from one drama to another in January, Crystal Palace stepped up indicating they wanted to take the midfielder on loan.

However, with just a couple of days to go before the transfer window shut, Everton popped up again to indicate that they were also contenders for the player if he was being loaned out this month.

And now with just about a day and a half before the window closes, it looks like the decision on where to play for the next few months will come down to the player himself. Reports indicated that Lampard had insisted that he wanted van de Beek, so it will be interesting to see if the Dutchman was swayed by that.

Everton have agreed to take on van de Beek’s full salary in lieu of any loan payments, with his reportedly £120,000 per week wages the same as Lucas Digne’s, who was just sold to Aston Villa.

Sounds like we’re going to have a decision sooner than later with the player deciding which club he wants to join. The Toffees have already picked up Anwar El Ghazi on loan, so the addition of van de Beek will mean they will have used up their quota of Premier League loans and thus will not be able to sign Rubern Loftus-Cheek, another player they have been linked with in recent days.