Everton transfer news: Sky Sports pundit reacts to Goodison Park situation with Isaac Price set to leave
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
Isaac Price’s likely exit from Everton doesn’t mean there is an inadequate pathway to the first-team, according to Kevin Campbell.
The Toffees youngster had been in talks over a new deal at Goodison Park but appears to be on the brink of leaving for Standard Liege in a “cut-price compensation deal” [Daily Mail, 10 April].
He had been heavily praised by Frank Lampard during the winter tour of Australia but hasn’t been seen in the first team since Sean Dyche took over, yet Campbell isn’t worried about academy products leaving if they don’t make the grade because breaking into the first team is difficult.
“I do, I think there is a pathway, there definitely is,” the Sky Sports pundit exclusively told Goodison News.
“The problem is you’ve got to be good enough, that’s the difference.
“Because at the end of the day there’s a manager you have to impress. Now, if he doesn’t think you can do it you have to use that and prove him wrong, either at the club or go somewhere else and prove it.
“But that’s football. That’s every club with an academy .
“Everyone starts off, ‘Yeah I want to make the first team’. But to make the first team is hard, very hard.”
Lampard hailed Price as “the best player on the pitch” in the penalty shoot-out win over Celtic during the World Cup (20 November), and a substitute appearance against Brighton on 3 January plus two places on the bench followed.
But Dyche hasn’t even named the 19-year-old midfielder in a match-day squad since, and with the teenager’s contract set to expire all signs point towards an exit.
The current manager has largely gone for experience in the relegation battle, and what Price could have produced if the change in the dug-out hadn’t been made is now a moot point, but the club are going to need to produce more of their own stars if the issues in the transfer market persist, with Anthony Gordon long gone and Tom Davies potentially set to follow.