In the age of financial fair play, homegrown talent is arguably more important than ever.
With youth-system graduates representing pure profit in accounting terms if they are sold, clubs are investing heavily in search of their next golden goose. The aim for most sporting directors now is to spot and secure talent earlier, then develop it either for use in their own team’s senior setup or for a potential money-making transfer.
Everton have been no different.
Anthony Gordon, Lewis Dobbin and Ellis Simms have all been sold as academy graduates in recent seasons in an attempt to adhere to the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). A significant proportion of the club’s transfer budget has been spent on younger players with resale value, such as Amadou Onana and Iliman Ndiaye, while there has also been a renewed focus on the emerging-talent bracket, encompassing players aged 16 to 21, from the recruitment team.
The aim now, for them and others, is to find and develop the next Jarrad Branthwaite. Signed for less than £1million ($1.3m) from Carlisle United, of the English fourth tier, in 2020, the commanding defender has risen through the ranks at Everton to become an established Premier League name and full England international. When Manchester United came to the table for his services in this year’s summer transfer window, they were quoted a fee in the region of £80m.
In an ideal world, there would be a steady stream of talents such as Branthwaite from the academy ranks to the Everton first team. That is seen as the new, sustainable way of operating under director of football Kevin Thelwell.
But here’s the thing — Everton as a team are getting older, not younger.
According to data from Opta’s Aaron Barton, their average starting XI so far this season, of 29 years 27 days, is the oldest in the Premier League. It’s also their second-oldest average XI ever in the Premier League since the competition began play in the early 1990s. No Premier League team has given more minutes to players aged 30 or over.
It should be little surprise, then, that Everton’s share of club-trained players — defined as those who have spent at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21 with their current employers — has also been among the lowest in the league over the past three seasons.
So, what is going on and what’s being done to try and change it?
What the numbers tell us about manager Sean Dyche… and what they don’t
This is an issue that predates Dyche’s arrival. But the numbers of homegrown, or club-trained, players in the Everton team have also fallen sharply since he was appointed manager in January last year.
Also including his predecessor Frank Lampard’s spell in the first half of that 2022-23 season, just five per cent of minutes were given to club-trained players — placing Everton 17th in the 20-team Premier League. Of those, Tom Davies, now at Sheffield United of the Championship, accounted for most of those minutes, followed by Simms, who was sold to Coventry City, another second-tier side, at the end of that campaign.
Opportunities have continued to dry up since then.
Everton’s percentage of 0.6 per cent of minutes to club-trained players last season — again among the lowest in the league — was accounted for almost entirely by Dobbin’s 12 appearances. And he was subsequently sold to Aston Villa, before the PSR deadline in June, for around £9million.
Trends show homegrown players are securing fewer opportunities year on year all across the Premier League.
But there are some Everton-specific circumstances at work here, too.
Dyche is consistent in his view that the Premier League is an unforgiving stage for new players, both academy kids and signings coming in from other competitions and countries, and believes it to be unique in terms of its pace, physicality and mental demands. While midfielder Harrison Armstrong, 17, and right-back Roman Dixon, 19, have made their debuts under him this season, the Everton manager has already said that he feels the next step for both should ideally involve a loan to play their football in a less exacting division.
Though Dyche has used Branthwaite extensively, and points to his work with young defenders such as Nathan Collins and Michael Keane, as well as Dwight McNeil, during his time at previous club Burnley, these rare success stories are exceptions to the rule rather than the predominant pattern.
Dyche would no doubt say that Everton’s situation in recent seasons has been such that avoiding relegation has been the only real aim, with everything else coming secondary. It is the kind of argument also voiced by men who preceded him in the Goodison job, including Marco Silva.
But even if Everton were up in the comfort of mid-table, there is no suggestion his selections would look markedly different.
What the numbers tell us about the talent in Everton’s academy
It was in the April of last season, during a press conference, that Dyche suggested there were no players in the academy ready to step in and immediately help his Everton first team. The comment raised eyebrows, but privately few connected to the club would have disagreed.
PSR concerns meant those who were next off the conveyor belt, the likes of Simms, Dobbin and, perhaps most galling of all, defender Ishe Samuels-Smith, got sold to balance the books. Samuels-Smith, an England Under-19 international, was viewed as the academy’s top prospect and a potential future Premier League player before his £4million sale to Chelsea in summer 2023.
The ranks below the first team have suffered from those sales, as well as the club’s precarious financial situation, which has meant a lack of investment in the academy programme. There has certainly been a desire to compete in the emerging-talent market, but the funds have not been there to give it a serious go. Going further back, Everton were banned from signing academy players between 2018 and 2020 after being caught tapping up. That inability to recruit is also said to have seen them lose ground on competitors.
Young players such as midfielder Callum Bates have appeared on the first-team bench this season, but only Armstrong and Dixon have seen minutes on the pitch. Dyche remains firm in his belief that the loans system is the most viable pathway for young players to develop.
Provided there is no injury crisis at Goodison, expect Armstrong and Dixon to look for loan opportunities as they bid to take the next step at Everton.
What are Everton doing about it? And who should I keep an eye on in the coming years?
There have been a series of changes behind the scenes in the academy as Everton have looked to improve their recruitment, development and coaching departments.
But the latest moves, as first detailed by The Athletic, involved the promotions of former European scout Nathan Fisher to the head of emerging talent role and ex-Everton striker James Vaughan to head of academy recruitment and player pathways.
The club are gearing up for a renewed and sustained push at academy levels, including much lower down the ranks, but some of this will take time to bear fruit.
In the interim, the decision was taken to invest some of their scant resources in new talent for the under-21 and under-18 teams.
Attacker Omari Benjamin, 18, was signed after his Arsenal contract expired, and has impressed for Paul Tait’s under-21s. Two more forwards, Braiden Graham and Justin Clarke, were recruited from Belfast-based Linfield of the Irish Premiership and League Two side AFC Wimbledon respectively over the past six months. Graham, a lively and prolific striker who plays for Northern Ireland at under-19 level, has scored six goals in his first seven Under-18 Premier League games, and Clarke, a rangy but dynamic wide forward, has six in five appearances at the same level.
Six in five games! 🔥
Averaging a goal every 63 minutes, it’s been a fast start for Under-18s forward Justin Clarke since arriving in September. ⚡️🔵 pic.twitter.com/YAM2Qj8EU4
— Everton Academy (@EvertonAcademy) November 20, 2024
Of those closest to the first team, there are high hopes in particular for Armstrong. His fellow England Under-18 international Doug Lukjanciks, a 17-year-old goalkeeper, and another ‘keeper that same age, George Pickford (no relation to Jordan, the Everton and England first-choice at that position), are also well regarded.
Stan Mills, the 21-year-old son of former England defender Danny, is back running after surgery on a serious knee injury suffered in the January of last season. His reintegration will need to be handled carefully, but at his best he has been a goalscoring threat from wide with a strong work rate.
It is unlikely the broader pattern of minimal minutes for homegrown players will change much this season at Everton.
But they will hope the groundwork being done now will lead to an upturn in fortunes in the years ahead.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
