Former Everton star Leon Osman has advised James Garner on how to break into Frank Lampard’s side and believes the youngster could be the one to bring goals from midfield.
The Blues completed the signing of the midfielder on transfer deadline day in a deal that could reach up to £15million. Garner became Everton’s eighth signing of the summer following his move to Goodison Park.
Garner had been with United since under-8 level, but was keen to move away from Old Trafford to get regular minutes under his belt. However, he has been unable to break into the Everton side and is currently behind Idrissa Gueye, Amadou Onana and Alex Iwobi in the midfield pecking order.
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So far this season, the England under-21 international has been limited to appearances off the substitutes bench, with his latest coming in the 0-0 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage at the weekend.
Speaking after his side’s 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United last month, Lampard opened up on the different attributes Garner can bring to the Blues’ engine room - and admitted he is excited about the future as he could become a 'big player' for his side.
And as the youngster pushes for his first start of the campaign, Osman, a former Everton midfielder himself, has offered some words of advice about how he can impress when given the opportunity to.
“My first advice would be simple: leave it all out there on the pitch. The fans aren’t fooled by a couple of nice passes and being in and out of the game,” he said.
“They want to see that you are fully committed and you have left every ounce of energy out there. Do that and play well. You are going to be considered a good player.
“If you do that and don’t play well then you will be forgiven because you have just had an off day and given it your all. So my first advice would be leave it all out there.
“My second advice would be to believe in yourself and your ability. You have to be the person that believes the most because you are the player going out there.
“And my third would be that it just doesn't happen on a gameday. Every single training session has to be fully committed.
“You have to be completely invested in your whole week and your whole season’s worth of football. Not just matchday if you are going to be the best you can be.”
And Osman, speaking exclusively to the Liverpool ECHO, believes Garner could also be the man to start scoring goals from midfield after highlighting the area as one the Blues need to improve in heading into the January transfer window.
He said: “I think we are in the position where if Frank Lampard can identify just better players than we have got, I think we need to look at that.
“I said it earlier but we need somebody who plays in midfield that has an actual goal threat and gets you 10 or 12 goals a season.
“I’m not quite sure we have got that yet. Maybe young Garner will be able to bring that as he progresses into the team, maybe it is something Frank has seen already.
“But we are not a team that can stand still. We are a team that needs to keep on adding and strengthening and trying to make ourselves better.”
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