When Everton take on Merseyside rivals Liverpool in a red-hot Premier League clash on September 3rd, will Frank Lampard have any of last season’s first-choice front three at his disposal?
Richarlison is gone, Anthony Gordon going – or potentially anyway, a £60 million offer from Chelsea may be simply too good to ignore (Sky Sports) – while Dominic Calvert-Lewin remains consigned on the treatment table.
And Josh Bowler’s potential return to the Premier League picture will only exacerbate the criticism aimed at Everton’s recruitment team. The Toffees released Bowler during the summer of 2021, letting the former QPR wonderkid leave on a free just four years after they invested up to £4.25 million in one of the EFL’s brightest talents.
But Bowler form at Blackpool, over the last 14 months or so, has been so downright dazzling that a second stab at the top-flight feels like only a matter of time. According to The Express, Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Bournemouth are all competing for the 23-year-old’s signature with just one week of the transfer window remaining.
Forest made a £2.5 million bid over the weekend, per The Sun reporter Alan Nixon. Bowler has one year left on his Bloomfield Road contract and is keen on joining Steve Cooper’s revamped Forest side.
Everton dumped Josh Bowler and now he could join Nottingham Forest
Former Toffees coach David Unsworth, during Bowler’s time in Everton’s U23s, described the winger as his ‘magic’ man. And his wand of a left foot has sprinkled plenty of stardust over the Championship. Bewitching full-backs on a weekly basis.
“For me, he’s actually the Championship’s best winger,” Blackpool team-mate James Husband said a fortnight ago, his praise justified as Bowler curled a trademark winner into the back of the QPR net a few days later.
“Everyone in the football club regards him that highly. There aren’t people sniffing around who want to buy him for no reason.
“People are starting to see numbers from him more than anything else. If you can get numbers in terms of assists and goals, then the world’s your oyster mate. You’ve got everything else.
“And thankfully now he’s starting to put it together really well, so long may it continue for us.”
The step up from the Championship to the Premier League is, of course, quite a considerable one. Who knows if Bowler can have the same sort of impact against Liverpool that he does against Luton.
But if Gordon follows Richarlison out the door, while a player Everton released just one year ago returns to the top-flight before thriving in the Garibaldi red, then you could cut the tension at Goodison Park with a knife.
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