Everton academy trio in first-team training as Frank Lampard assesses depth
Everton have promoted three of their most promising academy players into the first-team squad for training, according to the Liverpool Echo.
While some Toffees players are still at the World Cup or recovering from their international exploits, others are hard at work at Finch Farm ahead of the Premier League restart after Christmas.
Along with those senior professionals, Sebastian Quirk, Stanley Mills and Reece Welch have been testing themselves as well as Under-21 goal machine Tom Cannon and midfielder Isaac Price.
The latter duo have been in and around the senior team for some time in training and have made the odd appearance in a matchday squad too.
But Mills and Welch have only played Carabao Cup matches so far while Quirk has not yet made his debut for Everton but could do against Wolves on Boxing Day if he impresses Lampard.
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Clubs don’t get finished articles coming through their academy without giving them opportunities to make mistakes and learn from them on the biggest stage.
In a strange way, managers would prefer their youngest players to make big errors in a game so they can grow as a player and a person even if it means results don’t always go their way.
Unfortunately, Lampard and Everton are not in a position where they can afford to let points go in the Premier League to allow for these understandable errors and that might leave the quintet unable to get many chances.
Relegation to the Championship is not an option for the Toffees with a huge 52,000-seater stadium in development and needing to be paid for before its 2024 opening date.
Mills, Quirk, Cannon, Welch and Price will all have dreams of playing in that brand-new stadium when the club move in for the 2024-25 season but they need a senior chance before they can be afforded that luxury.