A nicely written article, with a theme it’s hard to dispute. The “ Gradual then suddenly” , although fittingly applied to the club as a whole, is very applicable to the Academy and the youngsters mentioned. On the face of it , Small leaving for a bigger deal and a supposed “ better pathway”, Lawrence leaving to return to the club he came from and which his parents support, could be thought of as not the Club’s fault. Arguably though the Gradual decline of our Academy’s ability to keep promising youngsters was under way.
More worryingly, two weeks ago there was no indication that Samuel-Smith wasn’t going to sign a pro deal , usually someone picks up these rumours. Suddenly we were opening the doors to interested teams who’d pay the asking price. The vast majority of Evertonians won’t have heard of or seen Samuels-Smith, so £4 mill will be seen as a good deal rather than the change from Gradual to Suddenly it appears to herald for our Academy and young players.
