Dean Rastrick, currently of Norwich City, is understood to be in talks over the role at Finch Farm
Everton’s academy, which is based at Finch Farm, could soon have a new director
Everton’s academy, which is based at Finch Farm, could soon have a new director (Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)
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Everton’s academy could soon have a new director with the club understood to be in talks with Dean Rastrick over the vacant role.
Rastrick, currently the head of football development at Norwich City, has extensive experience in the game. Before moving back to the Championship club last year he spent more than a decade at Tottenham Hotspur - taking full responsibility for oversight of the their academy programme towards the end of that stint.
Should he be appointed at Everton he would fill the position vacated by Gareth Prosser, who left at the end of last season to take on the same role at Al Jazira in the United Arab Emirates.
Rastrick returned to Norwich, where he spent four years as assistant academy manager between 2006 and 2010, last year. He started his career in football as a youth development officer at Luton Town and then moved to the role of head of youth development at Derby County before joining the Canaries.
In 2010 he moved to Spurs, initially as academy performance manager, before rising to the role of academy manager in 2017 and three years later, taking overall responsibility for the club’s academy programme.
When he left Tottenham n 2023, the club provided a glowing testimony, writing: “Dean has overseen the development of a large number of players who have progressed to enjoy careers in the Premier League, European football and the wider professional game.
“He has also overseen a large number of individual success stories and tournament victories at home and abroad throughout the age groups, culminating in the recent Under-18 and Under-17 Premier League Cup successes.
“Dean has provided the academy with a clear strategy, leadership and vision to ensure we operate at the forefront of youth development.”
Rastrick who, like Prosser, has worked at the Professional Game Academy Audit Company, would be tasked with implementing a strategy across the academy and attempting to create a pathway from the youth sides into the first team, should he be appointed.
Improving the academy is a key ambition of the Friedkin ownership group, which took over in December 2024 after the chaotic conclusion to the tenure of Farhad Moshiri.
The final years of his ownership saw the academy suffer from the impact of the club’s battles with financial regulations, with talented prospects including England youth international Ishe Samuels-Smith among the players sold.
While teenager Harrison Armstrong has emerged as a genuine prospect despite the instability of recent years, there is a desire to strengthen the academy with first-team manager David Moyes stating it as a key ambition.
His focus remains on the senior side but he has said this season how he wants the academy to flourish and for youth teams to earn success in development tournaments around the world.
In recent years Everton’s focus has included signing teenagers from other clubs to bolster their youth ranks with talents such as forward Braiden Graham and defender Reuben Gokah among those signed from elsewhere.