Jean-Philippe Gbamin was signed by Everton in 2019 to replace Idrissa Gana Gueye following his move to Paris Saint-Germain. There's no mistake about it – he was clearly rated by then-manager Marco Silva, who said he was "full of ambition" and "ready" for such a challenge.
"He fits with our model and he will give us different solutions in our midfield," Silva said.
The 28-year-old Ivory Coast international, who earned a reputation as one of the Bundesliga's best midfielders during a productive three-year spell with Mainz 05, was a wanted man ahead of his much-anticipated move to Goodison Park that summer.
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“Arsenal and Tottenham wanted Jean-Philippe in 2019,” Gbamin’s agent, Bernard Collignon, told The Guardian in a recent interview. “Jürgen Klopp, who managed Mainz, had wanted JP before signing Fabinho. But we chose Everton because if you arrive straight away at a big club in England, it’s very difficult to make it."
Expectations were naturally high following the £25 million move but injuries plagued his time on Merseyside.
In fact, throughout a four-year period, Gbamin would make just eight appearances for the Premier League club following a string of unfortunate layoffs, including a debilitating 20-month spell on the sidelines with a thigh injury that required two operations.
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Collignon feels those first few days at Everton may have contributed to Gbamin's injury woes.
“When JP signed at Everton in 2019, he came straight from Afcon and then had a three-week break after a long season. He had to rest. But after four days training with Everton, JP played a match. He had not done a pre-season. The next game, he played 90 minutes.
“This is not just an Everton problem though, this is an English problem – clubs don’t know how to manage a player regarding injuries. This is the reputation. Players are signed to 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."
Then, in May 2020, the midfielder suffered a serious knee injury on his return to training, which kept him out for another extended period. He eventually returned and managed to build some much-needed fitness, but another blow arrived soon after.
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“When JP got fit, Covid came,” Collignon says. “He was forced to treat himself at home. Nobody from the club could come. One day JP was playing football tennis, on his own, and he snapped his achilles.”
Collignon then claims his client, who spent the second half of the 2021/22 campaign on loan at CSKA Moscow, walked away from a £5 million salary this summer, when he mutually terminated his contract with Everton.
He impressed in loan spells at CSKA and Trabzonspor but it appears Everton wanted to sell up.
“It was not easy to cancel the contract with Everton,” Collignon admits. “JP left a one-year salary on the table, worth £5m. He didn’t take any money.
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"The club had to wait until the end of the window to see if there was a club who wanted to buy him, but nobody wanted to pay Everton’s price, especially for a player that can sign [a pre-contract agreement] for free in January."
He added: “We found the agreement of cancelling the contract 20 minutes before the deadline, at 11.40pm."
As things stand, Gbamin remains a free agent, despite interest from elsewhere.
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“The coach of Ivory Coast [Jean-Louis Gasset] keeps calling,” says Collignon. “He needs JP to play at Afcon, but JP needs to find a project."
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Featured Image Credit: Getty ImagesTopics: Everton, Premier League, Arsenal, Liverpool, Liverpool Transfer News & Rumours, Jurgen Klopp