Marcel Brands wants Carlo Ancelotti to play bigger role in youth development at Everton
Marcel Brands has been dazzled by a number of Everton U18 stars and he is eager for Carlo Ancelotti to play a bigger role in their development, according to The Athletic.
The young Blues beat Manchester City U18s 1-0 in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup on April 3, and victory over the cup holders has underlined the star potential of this side.
Such progress has not gone unnoticed at the top of the club, with Patrick Boyland writing: “The Athletic understands that some of those involved in the campaign have already caught the eye of director of football Brands, who regularly attends games at age-group levels.”
The report claims Brands is keen for Ancelotti to watch them on a more regular basis with a view to drip-feeding the young stars into the first-team group.
Centre-back Reece Welch is the latest player from the group to have been plucked from the U18s to first-team training, and there could be more on the horizon if Brands gets his way.
Bridge the Blues gap
This is promising news from our point of view – if there are talents with the capabilities to progress to the first team, we want our Italian tactician to be at the forefront of their development.
There has been a dearth of young stars that have come through the ranks to play at Goodison Park on a regular basis.
Tom Davies is the only current member of the squad lay claim to this, and even he has divided opinion at times.
Our Merseyside rivals Liverpool have a couple in the shape of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones, and that should hurt the Blues hierarchy.
There’s no reason that we can’t be doing the same, and this initiative from Brands could help to bridge the gap between the youth academy and our Premier League stars.
We are surely set to ruffle some feathers in the transfer market this summer, but we shouldn’t lose sight of our young prospects who should be used to supplement a strong senior core at the club.
In other Everton news, Blues set to battle host of clubs for 18y/o star who has trained with first-team at PL side.
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