Everton Youth Teams Thread

Nice info from the Echo; looks to be impressing.

"Gibson's form has not gone unnoticed at Finch Farm either. He has been invited by Marco Silva to train with the first-team in recent weeks following injuries to Phil Jagielka and Yerry Mina.

Insiders suggest he has held his own in a senior environment. But this has left Everton with a big decision to make over his future."
If he’s that good why is there a big decision to be made about his future?
 
....chuffed with that, he’s impressed me for 18 months ago. My only concern is whether we have another Holgate situation regarding his best position, but I am more encouraged by his physicality to cope with being a CB. He’s left sided which is a plus, he’s a defender that likes to defend and he’s comfortable on the ball.

He’s been a regular at U23 for a while despite being younger, and has captained the team for a while.

It sounds to me like he’s already leapfrogging Holgate and Pennington who are out on loan, plus the other CBs playing at U23 level. I’m not surprised.
I think Penno has been leapfrogged and nutmegged. Can’t see him playing for us again to be fair
 
It's not just about that tournament though. Cameron's right, Solanke was definitely rated more highly than DCL as a junior, he won the u17 tournament too, and the FA Youth Cup, and the Youth Champions League or whatever it was called, and I think he was top scorer in all of them. He also got an England call up for the senior team, and if there's one criticism you can't throw at Southgate it's that he's swayed by the media or who somebody plays for. DCL appears to have overtaken him now, which is great, but Solanke was definitely the great hope when they were juniors.

Solanke was similar to Hallam Hope here (and Brewster and potentially Simms) in that he was a massive lad who relied heavily on his size. He had very limited ability beyond that, which was quite clear once he got towards 18/19. There's a reason Chelsea were happy to let him leave.

DCL was more unknown, he came up the harder way. If you'd watched both at 18 though, it would be very hard to draw the distinction Solanke was the better player. It's clear he had peaked in relative terms.
 
Solanke was similar to Hallam Hope here (and Brewster and potentially Simms) in that he was a massive lad who relied heavily on his size. He had very limited ability beyond that, which was quite clear once he got towards 18/19. There's a reason Chelsea were happy to let him leave.

DCL was more unknown, he came up the harder way. If you'd watched both at 18 though, it would be very hard to draw the distinction Solanke was the better player. It's clear he had peaked in relative terms.
Hahaha I look forward to Hope and Brewster playing for England and getting bought for £19m then mate, must be a matter of time.

Chelsea wanted to keep him by the way, they offered him more money than Liverpool I believe, but he wanted to play. He looked good as a kid, I thought he’d be very good when I saw at that age so you can put me down as someone who can’t pick a player. At least I’ll be in good company on here.
 

Salanke is a quality prospect, his move to them was a bad one really. In the time he was with them, DCL has got about 50+ games for us, thats why he looks better.

Like em both, both could destroy defenders for years in this league and interntaionally.
 
I’m repeating myself a bit , but for me Gibson is currently our 3rd choice left back, so if Digne or Baines get injured he’s in with a shout of getting into our 1st team squad this season and maybe game time too. He has enough physically to cope at LB if brought on in the PL, but lacks the attacking intent as yet. He’s lost his England U19s spot to bigger players Guehi and Panzo at the moment , which is a bit disconcerting but something he can come back from. Hopefully he gets some pre-season game time .
 
Gibson is potentially a player that will allow us to go 3 at the back. He is left sided and has a good understanding of both left back and centre back. This season and probably next are a little too early for him too be a starter here but maybe get him a loan for the first half of the season and if he does ok bring him back and slowly start introducing him to the first team squad. He's already had 2 years in u23s so feel he needs to experience a more competitive environment!
 
I’m repeating myself a bit , but for me Gibson is currently our 3rd choice left back, so if Digne or Baines get injured he’s in with a shout of getting into our 1st team squad this season and maybe game time too. He has enough physically to cope at LB if brought on in the PL, but lacks the attacking intent as yet. He’s lost his England U19s spot to bigger players Guehi and Panzo at the moment , which is a bit disconcerting but something he can come back from. Hopefully he gets some pre-season game time .

....as I say, it’s a bit like the Holgate conundrum but it’s a very good point you make, it might be easier if he is introduced as a LB initially. I am converted to thinking he’s a CB who can play LB, whereas Holgate is a RB who can play CB.

Gibson is a powerful young lad and I have said he reminds me of the ex-Ipswich defender, Kevin Beattie, in respect of the ‘type’ he is. It’s a massive step up to Premiership but he seems to be impressing the coaches and might get an opportunity.
 

....as I say, it’s a bit like the Holgate conundrum but it’s a very good point you make, it might be easier if he is introduced as a LB initially. I am converted to thinking he’s a CB who can play LB, whereas Holgate is a RB who can play CB.

Gibson is a powerful young lad and I have said he reminds me of the ex-Ipswich defender, Kevin Beattie, in respect of the ‘type’ he is. It’s a massive step up to Premiership but he seems to be impressing the coaches and might get an opportunity.


Would certainly be nice if he could be cover for Digne next season...save us some cash on a new player and also allow us to save Baines wages.
 
Would certainly be nice if he could be cover for Digne next season...save us some cash on a new player and also allow us to save Baines wages.

....yep, Baines is still terrific but £80k per week is a lot for an understudy. Going to be very interesting what happens with Baines and Jagielka, I imagine we’ll know very soon whether they are being released.
 

Top