Everton eye U23s shake-up with host of players set to leave amid decision to lower average age
Everton could make a big splash at U23 level this summer with a number of players set to be shown the Finch Farm exit door, according to the Liverpool Echo.
David Unsworth’s side are currently eighth in the 13-team strong Premier League 2 with five games remaining of the season and a top-half finish is still achievable.
There have been some impressive performers including the likes of left-back Thierry Small, who has recently courted interest from the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal [Express].
But there are a whole host of players whose contracts run out at the end of the current campaign and the Liverpool Echo claim the club are “keen to build on the progress made this season with the average age of the starting line-up reduced considerably.”
They name-check Josh Bowler as one player set to depart Finch Farm for good, alongside Dennis Adeniran, Callum Connolly and Matthew Pennington, who are all currently out on loan elsewhere.
However they report that director of football Marcel Brands has a decision to make on defensive quartet Joseph Anderson, Kyle John, Ryan Astley and Con Ouzoundis.
Cruel to be kind
A mass clear-out of our unwanted youth players is the right call to make.
We can’t afford to be flimsy on these decisions and must be ruthless to drive the club on and align with Carlo Ancelotti and Farhad Moshiri’s vision.
In the past we have held on to players for too long in the hope that they would fulfil their early potential.
Luke Garbutt is perhaps the most obvious example – he only left the club last summer, at the age of 27, despite not featuring for the Blues since 2015.
He was left to rot in the reserves and on loan for too long and there are similarities to that of Pennington, currently at Shrewsbury Town on a temporary deal.
Pennington is now 26, set to turn 27 later this year, and he too will leave Everton after years in the Goodison Park wilderness, without an appearance since 2017.
It is obviously important that we hold onto our prized assets like Small and Tyler Onyango, but we should be shifting on those who are edging into their twenties with no realistic prospect of entering the first-team any time soon.
That will enable the players to carve out a career in senior football and not fall by the wayside.
In other Everton news, Blues ace unwanted by loan club who withdraw their interest in permanent move.
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