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The Everton pair spent time at League One club Stockport County.
Under-21s head coach Paul Tait wants to get more of Everton’s fledgling talents out on training loans after using them to success this season.
The Toffees have the likes of Harry Tyrer (Blackpool), Elijah Campbell (Ross County), Tyler Onyango (Stockport County) and Jenson Metcalfe (Chesterfield) all gaining regular experience away from Goodison Park.
But Everton have also ensured that Charlie Whitaker and Luke Butterfield have been exposed to senior football after their respective injury issues. Whitaker, a versatile forward who has been in prolific form for the under-21s having scored seven times in 12 games, and midfielder Butterfield - who has bagged once in 11 games - recently spent time with League One high-fliers Stockport.
Tait believes that the pair benefited markedly from the training sessions they underwent with the Hatters and ‘had their eyes opened’. And Tait revealed that players even younger than Whitaker and Butterfield, both 21, could get the same experience.
Speaking to Everton’s match-day programme before last Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Brentford, he said: “Charlie and Luke have both been great for us this season. Charlie had the nasty cruciate injury when he was out for 18 months, while Luke had thigh injuries where he was out for long. So, it's through no fault of their own they've missed a lot of game time.
“We got them out on a training loan at Stockport County for a few days about a month ago and that was great for them You put them in the environment and they're getting opportunities to train with a first team, which is fantastic.
“I just wanted to give them somewhere different because it's been tough for them. They're the oldest lads and they're looking around and some of the boys who they've grown up with are playing first-team football. There, they don't have the support they get at Everton. It's just: 'That's the address of the training ground. They're expecting you. Report for training'. They went and did it, really enjoyed it and got really good feedback from Stockport.
“It's something that I want to do with more of the boys as well - even the much younger ones. So we're looking into that but since they've come back, they've had their eyes opened and I know they had some good chats with some of the really experienced players at Stockport.
“I think one of the guys said he hadn’t started playing in the Championship until he was 27 because he had injuries. So that has given some confidence to be aware of that and there’s still time for them. And I think we’ve seen that in their performances. They went there for training opportunities and they came back in a much better frame of mind and their performances have kept improving since.”
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