Teens show Toffees have bright future
EVERTON fans got a tantalising glimpse of what the future might hold last weekend when teenagers Tom Davies and Ademola Lookman scored in the 4-0 drubbing of Manchester City.
Along with 20-year-old full-back Mason Holgate, the pair shone against a team containing some of the world’s highest-paid footballers.
The question now is whether this is the start of a bright new era for the Toffees or merely a false dawn.
Everton have the best record in the top flight for giving a chance to players under 20.
Having just signed from Charlton, Lookman’s involvement against City meant that teenagers had made a total of 668 appearances for Everton in the Premier League.
Their nearest rivals are Arsenal (636), Manchester United (573) and Liverpool (511).
And it appears there are more to come. The club’s Under-23 side, managed by long-serving defender David Unsworth, sit top of Premier League 2.
Unsworth believes Everton now have a well-developed culture of not only producing young talent but, crucially, giving them opportunities.
“There’s no point in having the best crop of youngsters if they don’t get a chance in the first-team,” he says.
“What our club has shown, year after year, is that if they’re good enough they’ll get that chance.
“That’s the difference between ourselves and the three or four so-called bigger clubs.”
The key to the promotion of young players is whether the manager trusts them enough to put his job on the line by playing them.
Many don’t, but Ronald Koeman’s background as a player and coach in Dutch football, where the top clubs rely on their academies, means he’s a natural advocate for youth.
“I’m a manager that likes to give young players a chance to become part of the first team,” he said when he arrived last summer.
“I’ve heard Everton has a good academy with some very good young players. It’s important for the club to give them the chance to come through.”
With little to play for over the next three months, he now has the perfect opportunity to put his words into action.