Former Celtic star Tom Rogic has been linked with a shock move to Everton.
The Australian midfielder, 29, is a free agent after leaving Celtic at the end of last season following a nine-year trophy-laden spell at Celtic Park. He bowed out of the Glasgow club in the grandest of fashions by winning the Scottish Premiership and the League Cup.
Since leaving Celtic, Tom Rogic has struggled to find a new home though. He has been linked with moves away to Indonesia and Australia, but nothing concrete has happened till now. Nonetheless, it appears as if the midfielder’s long wait for a new club could be over, with Everton understood to be interested in his services.
Everton haven’t enjoyed an ideal start to the new Premier League season, losing their opening two games. The Royal Blues did bounce back after two straight defeats by picking up their first point of the season on Saturday against newly promoted Nottingham Forest.
Frank Lampard is wary of the task he faces at Goodison Park having helped the club escape relegation in the penultimate game of the last campaign. And the size of his job has only grown tenfold after the Toffees have managed just one point from the first three games.
The Everton boss has made five signings so far this summer, with Amadou Onana, James Tarkowski and Dwight McNeil joining permanently, while Conor Coady and Ruben Vinagre moving to Merseyside on loan from Wolves and Sporting Lisbon respectively. Lampard perhaps wants a couple of signings more before the transfer window closes down, with the midfield area viewed as a priority.
Tom Rogic wanted by Everton
To address the big gaps in midfield, it seems as though Frank Lampard wants to bring in Tom Rogic.
Over the years, Rogic was a mainstay in the Celtic side, deciding many games with moments of magic and sheer brilliance. The Socceroos star is at the peak of his powers and would provide quality to Everton’s midfield, which has looked fragile in the injury absence of Abdoulaye Doucoure and Andre Gomes.
Thus, bringing a player like Rogic could add some much-needed experience and steel to the midfield and provide Lampard with more options than he has got at the moment. As the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will start in November, Everton are bound to need the depth in their ranks, especially if they harbour hopes of battling for a spot in the top half of the table.
It remains to be seen how serious Everton’s interest in Rogic is at the moment. And if they can snap the Australia international on a free transfer, it would be a smart addition to the squad in the short term considering Lampard could use some urgent reinforcements to solve his team’s midfield woes.
I am Rohan Sengupta from one of the busiest cities in India, Mumbai. A Journalism graduate with a keen interest in sports, football is something I simply cannot live without and writing, discussing and analyzing the game is what I do 24*7.