Fit-again Gbamin powers Iwobi's Everton to victory against Blackburn Rovers

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The Cote d'Ivoire international stepped up from injury to power the Toffees past the Blue and Whites in Saturday's pre-season game

Jean-Philippe Gbamin scored Everton's only goal in Saturday's 1-0 victory against Blackburn Rovers in a pre-season outing.

The Cote d'Ivoire international - who has been out due to injury - capped his comeback with an impressive display and a goal.

Nine minutes before half-time, Gbamin showed doggedness to win the ball from midfield and slid a pass into the path of Moise Kean.

The Italian's thunderous strike was parried by goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski, albeit, the African slammed home the rebound from close range.

The 25-year-old was substituted at half-time alongside Nigeria international Alex Iwobi as manager Rafael Benitez made several changes which saw Mali prospect Abdoulaye Doucoure and Allan introduced for the last 45 minutes.

Even at that, the Premier League outfit was unable to score more goals as they claimed bragging rights against Tony Mowbray's men.

For the English Championship side, Namibia international Ryan Nyambe was handed a starter's role but he was substituted on the hour mark by Sam Durrant.

Gbamin has been out of action for the Toffees following a knee injury before Everton's Premier League encounter against Brighton & Hove Albion in April.

That setback saw him miss the rest of the 2020-21 campaign. Before then, the former Mainz 05 star had featured in 11 games.

“In the next week we are going to have Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Yerry Mina, Fabian Delph and Bernard,” former manager Carlo Ancelotti told the club website.

“It will be longer for Gbamin and Doucoure. Gbamin doesn’t need surgery but he will be out for at least eight weeks. The plan for him is to be back for the start of the new season.”

His career has been hampered by injury problems since he teamed up with the Liverpool-based side from the German Bundesliga in the summer of 2019.

Gbamin suffered a thigh injury after only two games with the Goodison Park giants and was expected to be ruled of action for eight weeks.

Nonetheless, the midfielder damaged his Achilles tendon in training just as he was recovering from thigh problems.

Before pledging his international allegiance to the Elephants, he had previously played for France at U18, U19, U20 and U21 levels.

2021-07-17 23:00:06

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