Frank Lampard arrived at Everton with numerous pre-conceptions about his managerial style, but arguably one of the most intriguing was his trust in young players.
Granted he might well have had that thrust upon him in certain respects thanks to Chelsea's transfer ban at the time he was manager, but the way some of the club's brightest talents developed under the former midfielder was notable. Mason Mount you'd have to say would be one of the prime examples of that in effect, following a spell under his boss at Derby on loan, as he now finds himself a Stamford Bridge and England regular.
During his time with the Blues, Lampard has regularly featured some of the under-23s squad on the bench despite the situation at hand of a relegation fight. Of course, much of that might have been due to injury problems for the rest of the first-team members, but they were opportunities none the less.
READ MORE: Frank Lampard might have new selling point for Everton in transfer market
READ MORE: Donny van de Beek sends Everton message ahead of Manchester United return
Against Arsenal it was the turn of Lewis Dobbin, Reece Welch and Isaac Price to take their places among the substitutes. The latter has already come in for a fair amount of praise from the manager earlier in the season.
At the beginning of April, he gushed about the young players at the club before admitting: "Isaac Price I've been really, really impressed with. In terms of him as a midfield player, he's got everything."
That was ahead of Everton's match against West Ham United at the London Stadium, where the youngster was named on the bench. Despite Donny van de Beek being injured in the warm-up, he would have to wait for his opportunity as Mason Holgate instead stepped into the role and impressed.
At the Emirates on Sunday though, with Everton's main objective for the season already wrapped up, Price did get onto the pitch for the final portion of the match. He made a few late runs into the box too, including getting a touch to a lofted cross to the back post which he just couldn't direct on target.
Having made his debut for the under-23s in January 2021 after continually excelling in Paul Tait's under-18 setup, he earned his call-up to a Premier League bench against Brighton later that April - with Carlo Ancelotti said to have been impressed. The creative talent was a regular feature for the U23s across 2021/22, playing nearly 2,000 league minutes for the side - scoring one goal and bagging two assists.
He's had the chance to regularly step up to senior training during that time and did get on the pitch late in the FA Cup tie against Boreham Wood. That's given Lampard a lot of time to work with the youngster, and the midfielder said he's already learning a lot.
He told evertonfc.com : "I think it [reason Lampard is impressed] is just training, so far, trying to do as much as I could, and looking up to him when he was a player and trying to become what he was.
"I have been trying as hard as I can to get my opportunity. It is a lot tougher up there [first-team training], the game is much faster, they move the ball quicker and are better on the ball."
This is an important part of the development for a young player, and for Price to get this experience at the age of 18 could be important for him. Evertonians have been longing for a steady stream of academy talent to make their way through the ranks, and perhaps this group could provide some.
Dobbin, Welch, Tyler Onyango, Stanley Mills, Elijah Campbell - there's some exciting prospects there. They've all been in first team training this season, and they'll have all had their opportunities to catch the eye of Lampard.
But, as Price revealed, it's not just the manager who's helped him. In fact, he's given an inside track on the role that Leighton Baines is also playing in developing these young stars.
The 18-year-old added: "He’s really pushed me and I’ve had a lot of one-on-one conversations with him about trying to get to the top. Luckily, this year, it happened and he has been a big part of that.
"I like to press the ball a lot, he is telling me, ‘In the Premier League, you can’t always press,...you can’t jump out of shape, because you concede goals’. He has worked on that a lot with me in analysis and in the media room."
Again, you have to feel that this is a crucial aspect, and one that Everton can look to develop in the future. Baines is someone who has a wealth of experience of not just the club but the Premier League as a whole, and his knowledge will surely be invaluable to young players progressing through the ranks.
His current role seems him doing exactly that, and over the course of 2021/22 you could often see him alongside Tait for U18s matches and helping the academy players. Everton are searching for a new U23s manager and are also on the hunt for an Academy Director, but you can imagine any new arrivals will want to keep Baines on board.
For Price, he might have only got a few minutes against Arsenal, but they were tantalisingly enough to keep him striving for more. What the immediate future will hold for him is down to Lampard, but in many respects the midfielder has done the hard part in catching the eye of the manager.
Perhaps that brief spell at the end of the Arsenal game won't be the last Evertonians see of the 18-year-old in the near future.
