English lessons, house-hunting and buddy systems: how clubs help signings settle in
Kean and Gbamin arrived at Everton in the summer window and require help settling into a new country
Marco Silva will sit down, one by one, with his new signings this week and present another tailor-made analysis session designed to speed up the integration of Everton’s latest recruits.
Yet the bespoke services the club provides the likes of Moise Kean and Jean-Philippe Gbamin, two £25 million summer arrivals, aimed at ensuring their immediate assimilation extends way beyond the positions they should take up on the pitch.
There are English lessons to organise, chauffeurs to book, house viewings to arrange, restaurants and hotels to recommend and everyday practicalities, such as setting up national insurance numbers and bank accounts, to cover.
After the deals between clubs have been agreed, private jets have delivered precious cargo and multi-million pound contracts have been signed, the bedding in of players, and importantly, their families, runs in conjunction with the football side.
Such work has become a staple at Premier League clubs and Everton boasts a full-time, first-team player care manager in Charlotte Renshaw, who supports their individual needs and requirements.
All new players receive an induction pack which tells them all about the history of the club, the work the club does in the community, background information on all the squad and details on the local area such as recommendations for places to live depending on their individual requirements.
There are three levels to the support Everton offer.
Category one details players who have never lived in the United Kingdom before, such as Kean who arrived from Juventus, Gbamin from Mainz and Djibril Sidibé on loan from Monaco, and who therefore require support with virtually everything.
While player agencies also offer help to their clients, Everton will source cars, help find GPs and dentists and provide information on any cultural requirements, for example the whereabouts of the local mosque.
For signings such as Alex Iwobi and Jonas Lossl, brought in from Arsenal and Huddersfield Town respectively, the focus is more on relocation packages and ensuring family members are settled.
Fabian Delph, signed from Manchester City, falls into category three, given he already lived in the northwest and has spent his entire career in English football. Everton would help with any specific requirements he has, but assisting the midfielder is relatively straightforward.
“Ultimately, they all require different levels of support, but the idea is the club takes away as much of the stress of moving to a new club — and in some cases a new country — as possible so the player is free to concentrate on their football,” said Renshaw, who has worked for Everton since 2012.
There is an onus on the existing players to assist the settling in process. New captain Séamus Coleman formally welcomed all the new players, taking them on a tour of the training ground and introducing them to each squad member. The initiation ritual of singing for the rest of the group has already taken place.
“Our squad morale is very good,” said the Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. “We have got a lot of different nationalities and we all gel together as one big unit. That goes a long way. The dressing room has to be good in football and ours is very good. That is the starting point.
“They are good lads. The songs? I don’t know what they were. I’m not French [speaking] or Italian! It’s one of those things in this industry. Some people don’t mind doing it, some people hate doing it — me being one of them.
“It’s about bedding in and it is a good welcome to the club. If you can understand the language, I’m sure that they did well but I didn’t stick around in school long enough to learn.”
Kean has made two substitute appearances for Everton as Silva eases him into first-team action while he gets to grips with a new league
Everton also have in place a “buddy” system of sorts where the club looks to pair a new recruit with a member of the squad with whom they might have something in common. This could be based upon nationality, or having played together at a previous club which helped André Gomes, Lucas Digne and Yerry Mina following their arrivals from Barcelona last summer.
In the case of Italy international Kean and Ivorian Gbamin, they both speak French and so have struck up a bond. They have also been staying at the same city centre hotel with the club organising lifts to and from training and any trips out.
Both will now start English lessons. Kean, the 19-year-old forward, already speaks limited English, while Gbamin, 23, commands good conversational English but will also have lessons in due course.
There are usually three lessons per week, either at home or Everton’s Finch Farm training HQ, and they can be one-on-one or group sessions with all the family.
All of this underpins and aids the work Silva is doing as he seeks to fast-track players signed at the end of the transfer window into the first team.
“I sit with them and work with them not just on the pitch, but with some videos so they can realise what we want in all the moments,” said Silva.
“Normally, we do all the job at Finch Farm with them. When they go home, I want them to rest, to relax with the family, keep thinking about the football, yes, and then come in the day after to work hard.
“The Premier League is different. Even though they have quality when they come here, we are talking about different players, different leagues.”
