Everton’s Anthony Gordon has returned to training after a three-day absence amid strong interest from Newcastle United about signing the young forward.
Now with Everton seemingly set to appoint Sean Dyche as manager, it is believed that Gordon will have showdown talks with the former Burnley gaffer to clarify his future.
As reported in The Chronicle, Dyche is expected to be announced by Everton today and top of his to-do list will likely be talking with the wantaway midfielder, Gordon who seems to be hell-bent on burning his bridges at Everton.
The question for many Newcastle fans, myself included, is this the behaviour of the type of player we want at St James’ Park? When a player downs tools to force a move, it sets off alarm bells for me – it seems like something they’d likely do again and smacks of spoilt brat behaviour.
Granted, Everton is in turmoil right now and it can’t be a fun environment to be in, but Gordon is paid by that club, he’s supposed to be a professional and turning up for training is an absolute minimum requirement.
Obviously, Eddie Howe sees the potential in him, but even he must be starting to question the kid’s temperament now. It’s one thing to bring in a player known for diving and winding opposition players and fans up – that’s actually fine when he’s on your team – but when that questionable attitude starts to affect the club paying your wages, it becomes a different matter.
At the end of the day, Gordon is young and should learn from all of this, and maybe Howe is making allowances for that.
However, with Dyche now inbound, it throws a spanner in the works as he might be able to convince Gordon to stay and help Everton in their relegation fight. Although, I’m sure the Everton fans will have different ideas.