EXCLUSIVE: Dave Hughes spoke about Braiden Graham following Everton Under-21s 2-1 loss to their AC Milan counterparts in the Premier League International Cup at Goodison Park
Braiden Graham during the pre-season friendly match between Stoke City and Everton at Bet365 Stadium on July 28, 2026
Braiden Graham during the pre-season friendly match between Stoke City and Everton at Bet365 Stadium on July 28, 2026
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Braiden Graham has been hailed by Dave Hughes as being a top guy - but Everton’s head of academy player development insists that the prolific prospect’s spectacular strike was not the most impressive element of his display against AC Milan.
Playing in a Premier League International Cup group game at Goodison Park on Wednesday night, Graham – who struck 21 times last season – netted his third effort of this fledgling campaign with a direct free-kick to draw the Blues level against the Italian giants but the visitors went on to triumph 2-1.
Hughes told the ECHO: “Braiden’s goal for me wasn’t probably the standout characteristic. The free-kick catches the eye, for sure, but I thought he played with some discipline once in the second half we got a bit more clarity to kill space, he ended up playing 15-20 yards deeper.
“He was a little bit narrower, tucked in, but also deeper and from that perspective he showed incredible discipline which was probably the greatest positive for me this evening.
“With the transfer window shut, he probably won’t be going out on loan at the minute. Braiden has been in terrific form last season, but then he’s got himself sent off here against Liverpool a couple of weeks ago and we were disappointed for him over that.
“What we’re going to try and do is develop him to where he wants to go. There’s a part of that on Braiden and a part of that on us.
“He’s got some potential and our job is to try and do everything we can to hit that level.
“Braiden’s responsibility is to continue to develop. That’s like every young player.
“Where it takes them, we don’t know. When you work in development, your sole focus is to try and add different elements to their game.
“You try to make them stronger to ensure that there’s some physical development going on and to strengthen their technical and tactical understanding. What we have to say is that Braiden is a top guy.
“He’s a great, young professional who goes about his work really well every day. Our challenge is to try and help him and support him to develop to the next stage and that’s all we’ll continue to do.”
Dave Hughes, Everton's head of academy player development, during the pre-season friendly match against Shrewsbury Town
Dave Hughes, Everton's head of academy player development, during the pre-season friendly match against Shrewsbury Town(Image: (Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images))
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The Premier League International Cup pits 16 Premier League 2 teams against 16 invited sides from other European countries with all matches played in England. Last season, Everton faced Real Madrid, PSV Eindhoven, Monaco and RB Leipzig in the group stage before losing 2-0 to eventual competition winners Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-finals.
This time out, the Blues will also be facing Borussia Monchengladbach, Nordsjaelland and Dinamo Zagreb. Hughes said: “We believe the lads will learn a lot from these kind of games, it’s a really good tournament. We were up against high-level opposition, AC Milan, one of the iconic clubs in world football.
“As a learning opportunity for the boys, it was terrific. Equally, in the second half I thought we were very positive in how we played and the way we went about it.
“In my eyes, without being too biased, I thought we had the better of the opportunities which we didn’t capitalise on, but then an unforced errors leads to their second goal. At that period of the game, I’m not sure they deserved that – but that’s young players, they make mistakes.
“We’ve just spoken about it and said that if learning is going to take place, that mistake can’t happen again. From there, the lads are disappointed naturally but there were definitely some huge positives in how we played tonight.”
Everton also handed a debut to Mancunian Ezra Carrington whose signing had been confirmed earlier in the day after being released by Manchester City. Although the 20-year-old has mostly been deployed as a right-back, with George Finney occupying that role in the Blues team, the new boy operated at left-back and Hughes was pleased with his latest recruit’s 65-minute outing.
He said: “Ezra has been training for a couple of weeks with us. We had the opportunity to bring him in, and he’s been a welcome addition to the group.
“He’s a really good professional and when the opportunity to bring him in presented itself, we brought him in, so credit to the recruitment guys for identifying him.
“He’s comfortable on both sides. I think there are definitely two places either side where he can manage space with his left foot on his right side.
“He’s very calm and composed in possession. So, it became quite a straightforward decision [to sign him on a one-year contract].”