Everton Youth Teams Thread


i think that is were Solanke is struggling at the moment. When you watch clips of him at u18 & even u23 games, he was head and shoulders above all the other kids, with them now catching up and players dont just bounce off him like they would in youth football.
Will be interesting to see if this is the case for Simms too or the lad has genuine goalscoring ability
I think Solanke was rated better than DCL when they both player for England U 20’s or U21’s when England won the World Cup at that level, yet DCL seems to be ahead now, and Solanke was transferred fromLiverpool to Bournemouth in the last transfer window for £18M.
 
I think Solanke was rated better than DCL when they both player for England U 20’s or U21’s when England won the World Cup at that level, yet DCL seems to be ahead now, and Solanke was transferred fromLiverpool to Bournemouth in the last transfer window for £18M.
Anybody who watched that under 20 team with an objective eye would have picked DCL as the potentially better player, but Solanke was a media favourite and most of the commentary was about him.
 
Anybody who watched that under 20 team with an objective eye would have picked DCL as the potentially better player, but Solanke was a media favourite and most of the commentary was about him.
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.
 
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 at Chelsea where they attract the very best youngsters so he would have been part of a huge talented and successful youth set up. He was of course going to be in the spotlight.
DCL was at Sheffield Utd....
 

Anybody who watched that under 20 team with an objective eye would have picked DCL as the potentially better player, but Solanke was a media favourite and most of the commentary was about him.
Yes I’d go along with that, I think Solanke was voted England’s best player in that tourament because he was the leading goalscorer.
 
So you agree he was rated more highly then. Glad we cleared that one up.
He was rated higher by the media but as I said anybody who watched the games would easily have seen who the better player was.

Somebody made the very valid point last week that if DCL players for a top six side he would be in the full England squad at the moment .

When we start buying players because they are rated by the media then we really are in trouble.
 
He was rated higher by the media but as I said anybody who watched the games would easily have seen who the better player was.

Somebody made the very valid point last week that if DCL players for a top six side he would be in the full England squad at the moment .

When we start buying players because they are rated by the media then we really are in trouble.
Make your mind up mate. You’ve just said Chelsea have a great youth set up and can attract the best players, but now you want to say that their best player wasn’t actually good, it was just the media. And Southgate picks players for England based on who they play for, which fully explains why Keane, Pickford, maguire, chilwell, ward prowse and tarkowski get picked doesn’t it?

Why on earth you’re talking about buying players I have no idea. The point was simply that solanke was rated more highly than DCL a couple of years ago. He was, clearly, but DCL has improved since then and it appears solanke hasn’t. Most people would see that as a positive, but nah, let’s talk down the possibility of our coaches doing a good job and DCL working hard and pretend everyone had him pegged as a star from age 12.
 
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."
 
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."

....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.
 

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