Everton goalkeeper Zan-Luk Leban signs new one-year deal
Everton Under-23 goalkeeper Zan-Luk Leban has signed a new one-year deal at Goodison Park, taking him to the summer of 2023.
The club announced his contract extension via their official Twitter account on Thursday 26 May and the 19-year-old is expected to compete with Billy Crellin and Harry Tyrer to be the first choice for the academy side.
The Slovenian youth international played the majority of the 2021-22 season with the Under-18s, helping them to the last eight of the FA Youth Cup, but is now too old to remain in that squad so has now progressed to the final age-limited group before senior football.
“I’m very happy to sign this new deal,” Leban said, as quoted by the Everton club website. “Everton are a big club and I’m buzzing to keep learning and progressing as a goalkeeper.
“I believe I’ve strengthened every aspect of the game since I joined the Club.
“Off the pitch, I’ve grown a lot as a person, too. We’ve got some great goalkeepers here – Harry Tyrer, Billy Crellin – we all push each other to be better.
“The whole atmosphere inside the Club is really positive, with nice people. It’s a good environment to work in.”
Loan out
As much as these young footballers might be comfortable playing people their own age in the academy system every week, they need to get out and experience proper football.
No academy game in the country will ever be able to replicate the atmosphere and hostility that senior football does whether it be in the Premier League or the eighth tier.
Leban is one of three goalkeepers at Finch Farm who will only be fighting for the Under-23s spot so he needs to be the one who says ‘I want to go out on loan this season’ and try to force his superiors to allow it to happen.
He will never learn everything he needs to by staying in the cosy environment of youth football and if the Slovenian has any kind of aspirations of being a future Everton number one, then ironically he needs to leave the club as soon as possible to get that experience under his belt and return a new man.
In other Everton news, a 21-year-old South American talent is turning heads at Goodison Park.
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