Sean Dyche believes in the value of keeping a distance as some of his starlets impress on loan.
The Blues boss is yet to oversee Tom Cannon, Jarrad Branthwaite and Lewis Warrington with all three having secured moves to enhance their development before his appointment in late January.
They are among a crop of young Blues. which also includes Lewis Dobbin, who are currently making the most of spells in senior football. While Dyche has had a conversation with Branthwaite, he explained he typically saw it as important to give young loanees the freedom to grow without the intensity of pressure from their parent club.
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Cannon scored again on Monday as he made it six goals in his last six games for Preston North End and seven in total. The 20-year-old’s first spell away from the Blues followed him dominating Premier League Two and the Papa John’s Trophy for Everton Under-21s before making his first team debut, then Premier League debut, in the back-to-back Carabao Cup and league games at Bournemouth in November. A goal against Western Sydney Wanderers in the club’s trip to Australia during the World Cup led to his home debut in the Boxing Day defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers before the return of academy striker Ellis Simms from a loan spell with Sunderland, and the expectation of new attacking arrivals in the January transfer window, led to his departure.
Fifteen games into his spell in the Championship, Cannon is thriving. Preston boss Ryan Lowe recently told the ECHO: “I think he has got a big, bright future and we would love to potentially do something with him next season. At this moment in time it’s about trying to do well for us now and have a good season... His attitude and application is spot on, he wants to learn and works hard on a daily basis.”
Warrington is another starlet making an impression. After a positive spell at Tranmere Rovers last year his star rose further when he performed well for the first team during pre-season. He is now enjoying life at Fleetwood Town in League One under the guidance of former Scotland and Celtic midfielder Scott Brown. Like with Cannon, Dyche is aware of Warrington’s progress but his focus on him to date has been limited as he continues to learn about the players still at his disposal for the relegation battle. Most of Warrington’s dealings with Everton have been through loan pathways manager James Vaughan and the approach is working well.
During the international break, Warrington told the ECHO: “I’ve loved it, it has probably been the perfect loan up to now. I’ve learned loads off the gaffer and his staff and have got loads better as a player in a positional sense... It’s been really successful. I’ve learned loads, how keeping it simple is sometimes best, playing quick and keeping it one-two touch then finding new spaces to get onto the ball, and also putting more tackles in and reading the game well and landing on second balls. My whole game has improved.”
The one loan player Dyche is known to have spoken with is Branthwaite as the centre back continues to impress at PSV Eindhoven and is set for a big summer as interest grows in the talented 20-year-old who could take on increased responsibility at Everton next season.
But for the most part, while Dyche is happy to hear about positive loan spells, he wants to avoid causing disruption by becoming too involved. In response to a question on how closely he is following Cannon’s performances, he explained his wider approach by saying: “We have got people here who monitor it. There is a time and a place when that will come my way but at the minute we will just monitor it from a distance. When I meet them and they come back in then we will share a view, but sometimes it is best left alone. Part of the loan experience, it has always been a belief of mine, even when knowing the players a lot better in my time at Burnley, I didn’t used to be all over them and neither were my staff.
"Part of their growth was for you to not be doing that. Part of their growth was to be in somebody else’s hands. Part of their growth is to be away from the safeness of the environment and going into a new one and taking that on and all the new voices that come with it. So actually, I wouldn’t smother players anyway. The fact that some of them I don’t know at all and have never met them, why would I get in the way of their progress when they are doing well, which it certainly seems like he [Cannon] is doing? I get reports by the way, of course I am aware, but I don’t get reports on them as people rather.”
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