Everton set for youth recruitment shake-up as James Vaughan appointment confirmed today
Everton could be set for a shake-up to their youth recruitment after the appointment of James Vaughan has now been confirmed.
The Toffees announced on their website on Tuesday (12 March) that the 35-year-old has become the club’s new Head of Academy Recruitment and Player Pathways, and he will begin the role with immediate effect.
The former striker, who came through the Blues’ academy, has taken on the new position after previously joining the club as Loans Pathway Manager back in September 2022.
After his latest appointment, Vaughan said: “This is a new role I am extremely passionate and excited about and to be given the opportunity to do it at Everton is a real honour.
“I said when I rejoined the club 18 months ago it felt like I’d come home. It’s a privilege to be here, knowing what the club means to so many people. I know because I feel that, too.
“We want the best for Everton and I will work relentlessly in helping to achieve our wider goal of building a bright future for this club.”
This appointment is likely to see a change in how the Toffees bring in exciting young talents and create a pathway for them to go on and be a future success in the first team.
Vaughan is the perfect man to oversee that development as it’s the same journey he went on himself before forging a respectable career for himself over a 17-year period.
It’s clear that the club needs to improve its efforts to ensure more academy products make it through to the senior side after there has been little success in that department over the past few years.
The fans would love to see more homegrown talents step out onto the turf representing the famous Blues shirt and go on to make a name for themselves on Merseyside.
There is also an opportunity to pick players up from other academies and that is no doubt an avenue Vaughan will be looking to exploit in his new role.
That is something we may have already seen happening at Goodison recently, with Arsenal teenager Omari Benjamin scoring for Everton U-21s during his trial for the club against Tottenham U-21s on 2 March.
But it’s even more important to try and keep the most promising talents at the club after 16-year-old Arian Allen completed his move to Rangers from the Blues on 19 February, suggesting he saw the Scottish outfit as a better route to first-team football in the future.
You can’t really blame him as the only recent academy player of note who finds himself in and around the first-team picture after coming through the academy is Lewis Dobbin.
While Jarrad Branthwaite could be regarded as a success story for youngsters at Goodison, he isn’t actually an Everton academy product after the 21-year-old centre-back joined the club from Carlisle United for £1million when he was 17.
There is a chance now, though, for Vaughan to come in and shake things up within the academy and help more talents compete for a first-team place further down the line.
That would certainly be welcomed by all those associated with the club, particularly Sean Dyche as he looks to build a competitive side for the future.
In other Everton news, Moshiri was left without £200million paperwork to sign as a PSR blunder has emerged.
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