Everton are reportedly continuing to monitor Roberto Martinez as a potential replacement for Frank Lampard.

The Lowdown: Linked before Lampard...

Martinez was linked with the manager's job at Goodison Park before it was given to Lampard.

After helping to keep them in the Premier League last season, the Englishman has overseen his side hit a poor run of form, which has seen them win just one of their last seven games in all competitions and recently crash out of the Carabao Cup after a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Bournemouth.

Ahead of the break for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Lampard is now a man under pressure, with the board in a dilemma over whether to stick by him or bring in a new manager during the break.

The Latest: Martinez interest remains

As per Het Belang van Limburg, Martinez intends to take charge of the Belgium national team during the World Cup, but his contract with them expires at the end of the year.

There are talks over a potential contract extension taking place, but he is not guaranteed to sign.

As such, the report claims that the Merseyside club 'continues to follow up the file' of Martinez, after previously being linked to Arsenal and FC Barcelona.

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The Verdict: Stick with Lampard

Even though the Toffees are on a bad run of form, they need to stick with Lampard for now, and give him a chance to work on his tactics and get things right during the World Cup break.

Of course, with new signings like Conor Coady, James Tarkowski, Amadou Onana and Idrissa Gueye coming in the summer, Blues supporters should be expecting to be higher than 16th in the Premier League table at this stage.

However, Lampard has been without his talisman Dominic Calvert-Lewin for most of the season through injury, which has not helped.

Hailed as ‘world class’ by former top-flight boss Alex McLeish, Martinez has shown his credentials by winning the FA Cup with Wigan Athletic and guiding Belgium to first place in the official FIFA World Rankings, only recently being bumped down to second by Brazil.

However, his record in his first spell at Everton was overly disappointing, with two bottom-half finishes in three seasons, and it would be risky for them to appoint Martinez again, especially given Lampard now has a break ahead of him to potentially help turn things around.