Everton made a trio of appointments on Monday with the aim of raising the game of their Academy.
New director of football Kevin Thelwell oversaw the changes to the coaching set up, one where former Wolverhampton Wanderers Academy coach Gavin Prosser arrived in the role of Academy director, with Paul Tait stepping up to be under-21s coach and Everton hero Leighton Baines becoming U18s coach.
The moves were done with a clear goal in mind, one that the club hope will aid their fortunes both on and off the pitch.
"Throughout the interview process, it was clear from our CEO Denise (Barrett-Baxendale) and Kevin the importance of the Academy moving forwards to support the ambitious aims of the football club," said Prosser upon his arrival at the club.
"The target is clear: to create a best-in-class academy programme that will allow Everton to attract, recruit and develop top people; players and staff. I look forward to working with the Academy, Denise, Kevin, Frank (Lampard) and the wider club staff to ensure the programme is the best it can be to provide players with opportunities to represent this great club. We all need to work together to make this happen."
READ MORE: Chelsea consider Richarlison bid as Everton insistent over transfer fee
READ MORE: 'Can’t even imagine’ - Dan Meis makes admission over Everton new stadium
In recent seasons Everton have spent, prior to the restrictions on spending that their profit and sustainability issues brought last summer, pretty freely in the transfer market. They spent on the right profile of player in the main, players like Richarlison for £50m when he was 21 at the time, and players like Moise Kean and Ben Godfrey. Not all have worked but there has at least been a plan.
But in spending so heavily on young players, with the club having shelled out close on £105m (including potential add-ons) on players 21 and under since 2016. It's hard to level that as some sort of criticism as young players cost more but they also offer the chance of potential and future growth. The issue for Everton is that since Ross Barkley's £15m move to Chelsea in 2017 there are only two other Academy graduates to have commanded fees; Tyias Browning to Guangzhou Evergrande for £4.1m and Kieran Dowell to Norwich City for £2m.
Academy graduates such as Jonjoe Kenny, Matthew Pennington, Beni Baningime, Luke Garbutt and Brendan Galloway have all left the club on free transfers, players who spent years in the clubs Academy and made the breakthrough but who the club were unable to see either the competitive or financial benefit from.
Anthony Gordon is obviously the bright young thing who Everton pin their hopes on in years to come. An Academy graduate whose dynamic and fearless wing play has seen him become one of the most promising young players to emerge from the Academy set up in recent years. But Everton will want more Anthony Gordon's to stop them having to go out and spend so heavily to bring in players who have thrived in the youth set up of other clubs, namely the likes of Ben Godfrey, Nathan Patterson and Jarrad Branthwaite.
There is pretty sizeable gap that exists when it comes to the value of Academy players sold and the price paid to bring in players 21 and under since 2016. It is often the case that spend on that profile of player does outstrip what is brought in from Academy players, with Everton having to find ways to make sure they maximise what they can where they can after such a difficult financial period over the last three years. Making sure that they can more talent on the field through the Academy set up will be key to that, and if players can't find a breakthrough then making sure that they are financially compensated will also be important.
To support the efforts to reshape the Academy for the better, further roles will be appointed including Player Development Lead Coach, Player Development Senior Coach, Loan Pathways Manager and Head of Performance Analysis and Insights. Tait moves up to become Everton’s new Under-21s coach after five years overseeing the club’s Under-18s and helping develop Academy talents including Gordon, Tom Davies, Barkley and Lewis Dobbin.
Finding the right loans for players is key, something that Liverpool have managed to find great success in that has allowed them to bring in significant sums for their younger players despite limited first team exposure.
Academies cost a lot of money to run each year, but so does paying for young talent in the transfer market. In finding more players who can make that step into the first team means that the club could be saving themselves a lot of money in the long run when it comes to signing the best young players from elsewhere. Having them already in the building is a cost effective way of doing things that allows for spend to be allocated in other areas. It is, however, a plan that will take time and patience to come to fruition.
