Everton Youth Teams Thread

[LocalNative]

...it could be a case of looking who’s ahead of him in the queue, especially as Digne has signed a new long-term deal & Nkounkou has impressed.

Playing abroad (Germany) seems a popular route for highly rated youngsters, so perhaps he fancies that path.

The vast majority of 16 year olds will be released by clubs so I have no problem with youngsters doing what they think is best for them. Saying that, a 3 year deal at Everton will make him a wealthy young man so it must be a major temptation to sign.

Digne will be 28 in July, how many 16 year olds play in the Premier League? Even occasionally? Should be getting his head down then by the time he's 18 or so Digne will be 30 and he'd be first in line to start taking over should he be good enough.

New Brexit rules mean under 18's can't sign for teams abroad apparently, so it'll be another English team that takes a punt on him. However, as I mentioned, our pretty poor record at pushing talented youngsters right the way through the academy and to first team football could have a big role to play. Davies and Barkley the only two to have done it successfully in the past what 10 years?

 

[Lanolin]

Whether he's thinking on leaving or the reasons why are things only he can say and yet here we all are discussing it. He does owe us no loyalty the same way Everton would have no qualms releasing him if he wasn't up to the standard. So we can't just assume because he left another club for us he won't consider his options now. No footballer owes the club anything but sometimes with the young local lads you can lean on it a bit as they grow up supporting us and such. I very much doubt Small grew up only wanting to play for Everton unlike say Davies.

As for the bench it's fairly obvious that no matter the game scenario Small, Broadhead and Tyrer pretty much are not getting on at any point barring 4-0 up or having both keepers sent off. So in my view it would be more beneficial to have the one with a definite future at the club involved with the squad on a match day. You're kidding yourself if you think Ancelotti is turning to broadhead at any point when he barely even looks at King. So the competing on the bench thing is kind of a moot point, none of them are being used it's purely just experience.

I don't think the Nkounkou signing wasn't unnecessary as the club wouldn't have predicted a 16 year old to kick on this much and can't just gamble on that happening. I'm also not entirely convinced Small is going to end up a LB, his 3 mins for us were at LM and he does look extremely raw defensively even in U23 football. He could well move up like Bukayo Saka. Another point is that Ancelotti doesn't even trust NK. He's played Godfrey there instead making Small essentially 4th choice there

The idea that he - or any player - doesn't owe the club anything is odd. You're saying it as a statement, not discussing it. I have no idea whether he owes the club anything, but I've certainly owed something to companies i've worked for 5 years. Personally I doubt there's much in the story to be honest, it's the type of thing we've seen a thousand times before, but if there is then i'm sure he has his reasons. If one of those reasons is that he doesn't think one appearance and a few goes on the bench is an acceptable return for a 16 year old who apparently currently isn't very good in his notional position then I think he's probably got a slightly inflated sense of his own importance, but maybe i'm wrong.

 

[Nymzee]

Ah ok fair enough, thats shut me up!

Most of those minutes though will be Solly March and Lewis Dunk. I think the 3rd is Ben White. All of them have had to go out on a lot of loans and didn't break through for a long time. I just find it odd people would view Brighton as like miles better than Everton for a 16 year old lad looking to be involved in the 1st team.

Well who are Brighton's LB's? I certainly can't name them.

 

[mightymoyes]

why is everyone believing this story?

 

[EFC_FRANCIS]

The idea that he - or any player - doesn't owe the club anything is odd. You're saying it as a statement, not discussing it. I have no idea whether he owes the club anything, but I've certainly owed something to companies i've worked for 5 years. Personally I doubt there's much in the story to be honest, it's the type of thing we've seen a thousand times before, but if there is then i'm sure he has his reasons. If one of those reasons is that he doesn't think one appearance and a few goes on the bench is an acceptable return for a 16 year old who apparently currently isn't very good in his notional position then I think he's probably got a slightly inflated sense of his own importance, but maybe i'm wrong.

You'd have thought Ross Barkley owed us as a club a bit more loyalty than deliberately running his contract down and costing us 15 million quid but here we are. As a matter of fact with bosmans the player doesn't owe us any loyalty beyond his contract it's not odd to say that. I don't know whether TS does feel a sense of debt or not but the same with any footballer they owe us nothing in terms of loyalty because football is a business, you can't just assume because a player has been here for ages he will always want to be here. Its a part of the game I'd say it for any player with 6 months left, you'd like to think they would but we don't know.

I don't even believe the story I think it's agents posturing but it's still a warning shot none the less and a reminder that if he wants out he can no matter whether his reasons are legitimate or not

 

[Ring master]

why is everyone believing this story?

I am not, and not even because it was done on April 1st lol I cant see a 16 year old thinking he will be in the 1st team etc that quick just because he was in squad for a game or so not long ago

 

[blueloon]

...it could be a case of looking who’s ahead of him in the queue, especially as Digne has signed a new long-term deal & Nkounkou has impressed.

Playing abroad (Germany) seems a popular route for highly rated youngsters, so perhaps he fancies that path.

The vast majority of 16 year olds will be released by clubs so I have no problem with youngsters doing what they think is best for them. Saying that, a 3 year deal at Everton will make him a wealthy young man so it must be a major temptation to sign.

It appears that a combination of FIFA rules and Brexit mean that from last January youngsters 16-18 can’t move to to Europe and we can’t sign any 16-18 year old Europeans. There may be loopholes around that.
I suspect there may be some Agents at work, but really we should be in a position to be able to keep our young players for their first pro contract.
Does he owe us any loyalty? Well he may have come from WBA as an 11 year old , but we’d have hardly given him his bus fare to Liverpool and said find your own way, there would have been a whole package covering his schooling , family etc. Only he can judge what degree of loyalty he owes us .

 

[Lanolin]

You'd have thought Ross Barkley owed us as a club a bit more loyalty than deliberately running his contract down and costing us 15 million quid but here we are. As a matter of fact with bosmans the player doesn't owe us any loyalty beyond his contract it's not odd to say that. I don't know whether TS does feel a sense of debt or not but the same with any footballer they owe us nothing in terms of loyalty because football is a business, you can't just assume because a player has been here for ages he will always want to be here. Its a part of the game I'd say it for any player with 6 months left, you'd like to think they would but we don't know

I'm not saying he does owe us anything, i'm just saying it's odd to say that he definitely doesn't. As I said to begin with, I would have thought only he could really say that. If the club has gone above and beyond for him then he does owe us something. Obviously whether he repays that debt is a totally different matter, but just saying flat out he doesn't owe us anything is, as I keep saying, odd. Again, bizarre as it may seem, I also work in a business (mad that football isn't the only one, I know) and have worked for companies that I would definitely say I owed something to after 5 years. Not my entire life, not my entire career, but something. Barkley is a good example, most people would agree he did owe us more than he gave. Rooney too, the first time round. The fact they ignored that doesn't make it any less true.

 

[RomanReigns]

1878

Respect

 

[catcherintherye]

No 16 year old but right now I'd fancy making the break through there given how they treated Lamptey over how we developed Kenny. And I know Lamptey isn't their own. Brighton do have a young squad, I'm not saying Small definitely makes it there but off the top of my head Potter gave chances to Alzate, Lamptey, Connolly. That's more than just Tom Davies for us. Then you factor in they don't even have a left back which helps him. I'm not claiming Brighton are some development gods but there and Brentford have a clearer path to first team football atm mainly because they do play at a lower level

Lamptey is better than Kenny though. They've done well with those players, just as we've done well with Davies, Holgate, Godfrey, DCL, Richarlison etc.

It just feels a bit odd to me, thats all mate.

 

[catcherintherye]

Well who are Brighton's LB's? I certainly can't name them.

They've got Solly March and been playing Moer there who is very highly rated.

 

[Nymzee]

They've got Solly March and been playing Moer there who is very highly rated.

Whom?

I mean Solly March isn't even a proper left-back, from memory they've used giant Dan Burn there loads too. His chances of breaking through to PL footy would be much higher pushing past people like that than pushing past Digne/Nkounkou.

Edit: You mean Moder, Polish lad, he's a centre mid (and right footed).

 

[catcherintherye]

I'm not saying he does owe us anything, i'm just saying it's odd to say that he deinitely doesn't. As I said to begin with, I would have thought only he could really say that. If the club has gone above and beyond for him then he does owe us something. Obviously whether he repays that debt is a totally different matter, but just saying flat out he doesn't owe us anything is, as I keep saying, odd. Again, bizarre as it may seem, I also work in a business (mad that football isn't the only one, I know) and have worked for companies that I would definitely say I owed something to after 5 years. Not my entire life, not my entire career, but something. Barkley is a good example, most people would agree he did owe us more than he gave. Rooney too, the first time round. The fact they ignored that doesn't make it any less true.

I think thats all fair, but I would say at his point in his career, he (and most 16 year olds) shouldn't think they owe anything to anyone. They are starting out. I'd imagine you probably felt that way haing been in the business for some years and had some reward for it. He is hyet to sign his 1st professional contract.So I can't slate him for saying he doesn't owe Everton anything.

My position is more, that he is just not thinking about things very logically. He is at a club who have already given him almost unprecedented exposure, in part because we have invested 5 years in him. He becomes just another 16/17 year old at another club. Given the track record we have of bringing players through, I'd say it was a big risk for him, at this moment in time, to walk away from a 3 year deal. Even if it's not about loyalty, I don't think it's a massively sensible move for him.

If he was stuck in the under 18's, you'd kind of undertand it. But he's getting progressed forward.

Hopefully it's a ploy to get better terms and it can be resolved. However going public like that may just cement in the clubs mind he's not a player they will want to waste an awful lot more development time with.

 

[catcherintherye]

Whom?

I mean Solly March isn't even a proper left-back, from memory they've used giant Dan Burn there loads too. His chances of breaking through to PL footy would be much higher pushing past people like that than pushing past Digne/Nkounkou.

Edit: You mean Moder, Polish lad, he's a centre mid (and right footed).

I think Moder has been playing left wing back for them.

There's no doubt he'd have a better chance at breaking in at left back at Brighton. I agree with that. However there's also a risk he goes there, and is just another body. He has been progressed forward well here, and we have brought a number of younger players into the 1st team squad.

 

[Nymzee]

I think Moder has been playing left wing back for them.

There's no doubt he'd have a better chance at breaking in at left back at Brighton. I agree with that. However there's also a risk he goes there, and is just another body. He has been progressed forward well here, and we have brought a number of younger players into the 1st team squad.

Kind of... we have Gordon I'd say as the real example under this regime with Branthwaite loaned out. I mean I don't think it's a real story but I wouldn't begrudge a player leaving our academy for a Brighton to play football. I mean Lamptey did it from Chelsea when he was 19 and it worked out great for him.