Jean-Philippe Gbamin is still without a club after terminating his contract with Everton and losing his final year’s salary of £5m..
But his agent, Brian Collignon, insists his problems are due to the way he has been treated by Everton since the start of his lucrative five-year contract..
“When Jean-Philippe signed for Everton in 2019, he came straight from CAN and then took three weeks off after a long season.. He must rest.. But after 4 days of training with Everton, JP played one match.. He didn’t do anything before the season.. The next game he played 90 minutes!!” Collignon told the Guardian this week..
“It’s not just an Everton problem, it’s an English problem – clubs don’t know how to deal with a player in injury case.. The players receive very high salaries.. But because of that, they are expected to play, whether you are fit or not.. They don’t care.. The intensity of the Premier League is so high that when a player is injured or not fit, they should recover slowly, step by step..”
I think the agent has the wrong end of the stick.. Gbamin was injury-prone before joining Everton and they thought they could handle it at the medical.. He had a previous thigh injury.
As a rest and recovery regimen, Everton’s training regime lacks recovery, leading to sloppy recovery.. Gbamin needs to be in good physical shape to have playing time consistent with the pace of play in the Premier League.. He was never fit or aware.. We got to see Gbamin kick the ball three times..
There are other players at Everton like him, but their agents manage those players’ financial interests better..
A club with Everton’s financial resources cannot afford to lose players for long periods of time – especially big-name signings, who were bought for high transfer fees..
In the past 4-5 years, Gbamin, Bolasie, Gomes, Mina, Delph, Tosun, Allan, etc.. all were signed for a fee of £20-25m (except Delph, who was brought in for a little less) and high wages, having endured lingering injuries..
Everton don’t have the resources to buy replacements like the Top 6-7 clubs can do without blinking an eye.. Most of these injuries have been unfortunate or unlucky ones, but they have dealt a huge blow to Everton’s competitiveness and it is one of the main reasons why we have struggled so much over the past two weeks.. last season..
Maybe so.. perhaps we have taken a different turn, and Dyche’s cautious approach (the Bolasie injury approach, which the agent believes should have happened in Gbamin’s case) is exactly that.. what is needed at this time, is no longer a long overdue solution.. a spoonful of luck for the players’ good health.
Regarding Gbamin, giving up £5 million was a brave and honorable thing to do – and ask yourself honestly – how many of us would lose that amount of money in a similar situation??
