Everton hope to have Gbamin playing again this year

How he comes back, will be key and he won't be rushed back but let's see.

Steps in the right direction and a change of fortune for the better, hopefully.

The good thing is there's no need to rush him back with our midfield options. I remember it took Bracewell and age to come back, eventually he did reestablish himself albeit not at Everton. Whether or not Gbamin makes it Everton remains to be seen but if nothing else hopefully he gets playing again

Bracewell was one of my favourites at the time. He was only 24, hadn't even reached his peak, heading to Mexico with England. A future star, until a shocking tackle by a useless striker Whitehurst. Two years of injury hell, sadly he was never the same player.

I hope Gbamin finally gets a chance to show his skill, hopefully he'll be back next month, but it'll take him a lot longer to get match fit.

Lyndon, the Digne "reports" aren't reports, it happened. Pull up a replay of the game online (ESPN+) and jump to minute 79 where he beautifully assists on Mbappe's gamewinner. He clearly is in distress and must be helped off four minutes later.

Waiting impatiently for clearer word on Coleman, Allan and Mina. Damn, is it Wednesday already??

Whatever, the least we can expect is maximum effort as and when he eventually earns a shirt (and I'll support him if he puts in the max).

More likely though he'll become to our midfield what Sandro was to our attack.

My prediction 1-0 Everton, James belter, COYB!!!

Best wishes to him.

I don't like the news regarding Mina and Digne. Hopefully they will be okay.

My only worry is with Achilles injuries players tend to lose that explosive 5-yard burst – remember Yakubu who tore his and never got back to the level he was before.

I'm not worried about Mina, I hope he gets fit but, on Saturday, if Ben Godfrey comes in, he'll do fine and those around him will benefit from his presence, including Nkounkou, if he has to come in for Digne, who will be a big loss if he doesn't make it.

We are going into the game at Goodison to win, no matter what team turns out.

Digne is such a classy player and experienced so he would be missed. Nkounkou is 19 still so it would be a a baptism of fire against Mane and Salah and their wing backs.

The young lad looked very cool defensively against West Ham, and kept his defensive game simple. I thought it was mature and encouraging, I think he is listening to good advice from Ancelotti.

Offensively Nkounkou has the ability to cause Liverpool problems. He can find space and his crossing ability with his left foot is as good as it gets for a teenage player, and is already better than the vast majority of senior players. The fact that this lad has loads of improvement to come is really exciting for us.

I would rather he had a more phased introduction so I am happy that Digne says he should be ok to play.

Similarly if Ben Godfrey is thrown into the mix, I watched the lad the other night in the England U-21s, he was impressive in commanding his area and marshalling the defence.

Isn't it great at last to have so many options in almost every position? Hitherto, we would have been worried about any injury before a derby match. Having said that, let's hope they get out there and batter these pretenders and widen our points advantage and goal difference too.

Let's hope he can get back to his previous level, after such a nasty injury.

On the other hand, if he can get down the wing, his crosses could make him a perfect partner for the new 'one touch' Calvert-Lewin.

Aside from physical size I didn't see any little glimpses of quality and he did not appear particularly quick in tight spaces. I expect we'll be looking to loan him out next summer if he can at least regain fitness.

Back to McCarthy, I really rated him as a squad player so the long term injuries were so unfortunate for him and our usual lot as Blues.

Good luck to Gbamin if he plays in the future. If he does it can only be good for our not too unrealistic title challenge. Onward and upwards, keep the faith.

IF he recovers fitness..

..will he be able to stay fit?

..will he be good/fast/strong enough for the Premier League?

..will he be good enough for this version of Everton and not just the one he joined?

If he answers all those questions affirmatively it will be a nice surprise but I choose to assume at least one and maybe all will trip him up.

You can never have too much strength in depth for the midfield as I have always believed that's where games are won and lost.

Francis Cagigao: 'Messi, Piqué, Mata were very close to joining Arsenal'

The US is really turning out some great talent right now.

let's wait and see A living hen can still eats corn, says an African proverb.