He looks like a ROCK STAR ... but Everton’s Tom Davies loves Elvis and Sinatra
TOM DAVIES shakes his head and laughs, still trying to take it all in. This has been a whirlwind month for the Everton teenager, one defined by a question of four short words.
With Everton having a blank weekend when the FA Cup fourth round was being staged, manager Ronald Koeman gave his players a few days off. So Davies, a keen traveller — ‘I like to open my mind,’ he says — took the opportunity to visit Barcelona with his older brother Liam.
The break was well-deserved. The previous fortnight had featured a goal and man-of-the-match midfield display in a 4-0 rout of Manchester City, then, crucially, an assist for Seamus Coleman in a tough 1-0 win at Crystal Palace. This, though, was no time to party.
Davies, more than anything, wanted to see the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s iconic cathedral. There was also a chance to see Barcelona play Real Sociedad in the Spanish Cup and it was outside the Nou Camp, the 18-year-old reveals, that he realised how much his life is changing.
‘This lad from America comes up to me and says, “Are you Tom Davies?”,’ he says. ‘ I honestly couldn’t get my head around it.
‘It was a bit of a shock, really. He wasn’t even an Evertonian. He told me he had seen the goal (against City) on the internet.
‘So we had a little conversation but after it had happened, me and Liam just started laughing. I’d gone to see (Lionel) Messi and (Andres) Iniesta, to look for inspiration from those brilliant players. So for someone to come up to me? Outside there? It was a bit strange!’ In these circumstances, it would be easy to get carried away by the first whiff of fame, but you can tell from spending time in Davies’s company that he is not motivated by that and his family would not allow him to head down that path anyway.
For all that life is changing in a football sense, with Davies having impressed the hard- to- please Koeman, nothing has altered off the pitch after that golden goal against City and his emergence into this campaign’s narrative.
He still lives at home, in the suburb of West Derby, with mum Diane and father Tony.
The fact Tom has not yet passed his driving test means his parents are still on taxi duty, while Liam — a footballer of promise who has endured wretched luck with injuries — is a constant pillar of support.
‘ I’ve done my theory,’ Davies points out. ‘But who takes me (to Finch Farm training ground)? My lovely mother. Dad does sometimes too. Mum doesn’t mind, I don’t think. She puts up with me.
‘They are great, really. They are always there and won’t let me get carried away, no chance. A lift to training is nothing, really. But I suppose it’s bad for me, isn’t it? Mum cooks. And Liam is a decent
chef (his current favourite dish is pesto pasta with parmesan cheese). I try to help out but they send me away! It’s the same for dad. We get told to stay clear.
‘liam is always there for me. He has had a lot of bad luck in his own career and a few bad injuries. When I see what happened to him (serious knee ligament injury), it makes it important to realise I have to enjoy every moment. I have just got to make sure I take everything as it comes.’
sitting in his company, Davies doesn’t come across as a youngster who is awkward when asked questions. He speaks quietly but thinks about his answers and shows maturity; confident but without any trace of arrogance.
Davies isn’t afraid to be different. To look at him, with his curly blond hair and the way he is dressed, you would assume his favourite band is the arctic Monkeys or similar, but there is a surprise when he discloses his preference.
‘The old stuff is the best,’ he says with a glint in his eye. ‘The Beatles — obviously! — but I love Frank sinatra, Dean Martin. Mum and dad used to play them in the house, so I just picked up on that. I love a bit of that. Then there is Marvin Gaye, stevie Wonder, The Drifters.
‘It’s good, isn’t it? I don’t mind stuff like the arctic Monkeys but it is the older ones that really catch me. elvis as well. Got to be elvis. Favourite song? Something Stupid, maybe. That’s a good one. Big Bad Leroy Brown. another good one.’
Yet to illustrate his youth, he was born on June 30, 1998, the day england were knocked out of the World Cup by argentina after Michael Owen had scored that wondrous solo goal. It was also 59 days after his current team-mate, Gareth Barry had made his first Premier league appearance.
He
laughs at that fact and reveals Barry has been a constant source of help and advice and ‘ always looks out’ for him. There are special mentions, too, for David Unsworth, everton’s Under 23 head coach, and club legend Joe Royle, who he ‘can’t thank enough’.
There is a reason, however, that Davies finds himself in everton’s squad. He might be intelligent, he might be courteous, but more than anything he can play football and has long been held in high regard by his club — he signed when he was 12 — and the Fa.
When england’s seniors needed an Under 18 player to help with a session at st George’s Park in 2015, Davies stepped forward.
Roy Hodgson and Gary Neville made a point of telling the relevant coaches how impressed they had been with the way Davies handled himself. Koeman is a taskmaster too, but has found himself unable to hold Davies back. The Dutchman said before Christmas that he felt Davies ‘wasn’t ready’ for the Premier league, but now he has found himself with another quality midfield option.
‘I wasn’t ready,’ Davies stresses. ‘I was playing for the Under 23s. I heard what people were saying but I could see, even in training, how much I needed to improve. He took the time to leave me out and let me develop and that has given me confidence and experience.
‘For him to be coaching me — and his brother (erwin) as well — they are really helpful and I’m just trying to take everything on board.
‘I feel like I have fitted in well since he gave me a chance. I feel like I am part of it. The time being out of the team was worth the wait. I feel ready now.’
still, there may be another spell on the fringes coming. With Morgan schneiderlin, Barry, Ross Barkley and Idrissa Gana Gueye vying for a place, the competition is ferocious — but the way Davies deals with this subject is the most significant of all. The smile goes. Now it is about business.
‘You see it in training with people stepping it up every day, wanting a shirt,’ he points out. ‘When you get that, the team is only going to go on to better things. I know I’m going to have to work harder than I have ever done.’
It is time for him to leave but, fittingly, there is now a statement of four short words to make things clear: ‘I will do that.’ Tom Davies wears the adidas ACE17 Blue Blast designed for ultimate ball control — www.adidas.co.uk/football
An American lad came up to me in Barcelona and asked: ‘Are you Tom Davies?’