Everton’s £22.5m summer signing Jean-Philippe Gbamin has been ruled out for a further three months after undergoing surgery on a thigh injury sustained in August.
The Ivory Coast midfielder made only two appearances for Marco Silva’s side before damaging a quadriceps muscle in training. Everton had hoped surgery would not be required and the 24-year-old returned to light training this month, only to suffer a setback that necessitated an operation in France on Tuesday.
Gbamin’s absence is now likely to be five months in total and represents another blow for the under-pressure Everton manager, who identified the former Mainz player as the replacement for Idrissa Gana Gueye. Silva’s hopes of developing a central midfield partnership between Gbamin and André Gomes are over until the new year.
Gomes has only recently returned from a rib injury and, with Everton in the relegation zone following four consecutive Premier League defeats, Silva has admitted that West Ham’s visit on Saturday is a “must-win” fixture.
