Everton have been dealt an injury blow with it emerging that James Garner will be sidelined until the early part of 2023.
During the summer transfer window, the Toffees signed the midfielder from Manchester United in a deal worth in the region of £15m.
The England Under-21 international had been coming off the back of an impressive campaign in the Championship with Nottingham Forest, who he helped win promotion to the Premier League.
However, Garner has endured a frustrating opening period at Goodison Park, making just six substitute appearances in the top flight.
Although Garner has still accumulated 138 minutes of football, he finds himself down the pecking order with Idrissa Gueye, Amadou Onana and Alex Iwobi established as Frank Lampard's preferred trio.
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Nevertheless, the 21-year-old will not have the opportunity to gain further playing time with Everton for the foreseeable future due to a back injury.
Having started and played 52 minutes of the club's 4-1 defeat to Bournemouth in the EFL Cup, Garner was absent from the squad for the corresponding fixture in the Premier League four days later.
Despite the issue being played down at the time, Lampard has now confirmed that he does not expect to have Garner available again for at least two months.
Speaking to EvertonTV, Lampard said: "Unfortunately, James Garner is going to be more than that. He's probably going to be back at the back end of January or early February. It's a disappointing injury."
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In the same interview, Lampard indicated that Yerry Mina and Tom Davies should be back in contention by the time that the Premier League resumes on Boxing Day.
Davies is expected to have resumed training after a knee injury in three weeks, while Mina should have recovered from a hamstring problem within the next four weeks.
The latter has endured a disastrous campaign thus far, picking up an injury in Everton's opening Premier League fixture of the season against Chelsea.
Three months had passed before the Colombia international completed 90 minutes against Bournemouth in the EFL Cup, only for a hamstring issue being sustained during the club's mid-season trip to Australia.
Darren Plant
