Braiden Graham and Malik Olayiwola boarded the team coach to Tottenham on Saturday knowing the trip carried more than matchday experience.
Both teenagers are chasing a place in David Moyes’ squad for tomorrow’s Carabao Cup tie against Wolves at the Hill Dickinson, and the visit to north London offered the clearest signal yet of where they stand in the manager’s thinking.
From Tottenham dressing room to Carabao Cup opportunity
Graham’s number 58 shirt and Olayiwola’s number 76 shirt were laid out in Everton’s away dressing room before kick-off, evidence that both were part of the travelling party Moyes trusted to be close to his first team.
Only one of them, though, made it onto the bench itself. Graham was named among the substitutes, while Olayiwola was left out after Moyes opted to name two goalkeepers, Mark Travers and Tom King, among his replacements.
That decision was shaped in part by events on the pitch. Jordan Pickford appeared to be in discomfort during the game, and Travers was sent through an extended warm-up as Everton weighed up whether a change in goal might be required. With a second goalkeeper occupying a substitute’s spot, there was simply no room for Olayiwola alongside Graham.
It is not the first time the pair have found themselves on the fringes of a matchday squad without getting onto the pitch. Both were unused substitutes when Everton lost 3-0 on penalties to Sunderland, following a 1-1 draw after extra time, in the FA Cup third round at Hill Dickinson Stadium on 10 January.
That experience of sitting among the substitutes in a high-stakes cup tie will count for something as Wednesday approaches.
Inside Everton’s depleted senior squad under Moyes
The opportunity in front of Graham and Olayiwola is not purely a reward for academy form. It is also a consequence of strain on Moyes’ options. Everton’s senior squad numbers 18 outfield players on paper, but injuries to Christian Norgaard and Merlin Rohl have reduced that figure to just 16 fit bodies available for selection.
For a club balancing a Premier League campaign with cup competition, that kind of squeeze inevitably opens doors that might otherwise stay closed. Moyes has shown throughout his second spell in charge that he is prepared to lean on academy graduates when circumstances demand it, and the current injury list makes Wednesday’s Wolves tie precisely the sort of fixture where that trust gets tested.
Supporters weighing up how Everton might set up against Wolves can find more detail in Read Everton’s Everton vs Wolves: Carabao Cup preview & head-to-heads.
None of this guarantees either youngster a start, or even a place among the substitutes again. Moyes still has senior options to call upon, and cup selection decisions at this club are rarely made purely on sentiment. But the depleted numbers mean both Graham and Olayiwola are firmly in the conversation in a way they might not be with a fully fit squad.
Moyes’ tactical assessment and Graham’s rapid development
Moyes has been explicit about how he views Graham’s best position, and it is worth supporters recalibrating any assumption that he is being groomed as a central striker. Asked about the teenager, Moyes said: “I don’t think he’s a striker, first of all. He’s probably someone who would play off the sides for us.”
That assessment matters because it frames exactly how Graham might be used if his number is called on Wednesday, likely stretching play from wide areas rather than leading the line. Moyes has made clear the trust already placed in him around the first-team environment. “We like Braiden, he’s trained with us quite a lot, and he was in pre-season with us,” the manager said, before adding: “He’s certainly moving in the right direction. It would be a difficult ask for any young player to come in and be a source for goals in the Premier League.”
Graham’s rise has not gone unnoticed beyond Merseyside. He earned a call-up to Northern Ireland’s senior squad for friendlies against Guinea and France in June, a landmark that underlined how quickly his stock has risen away from Everton’s academy setup as well as within it.
Olayiwola’s story runs on a parallel but distinct track. He has climbed from Everton’s Under-18s to the Under-21s and into first-team squad contention within a single season, a trajectory he describes in striking terms. “This season’s been good because I’ve gone from the Under-18s to Under-21s and then on to the bench with the first team so quickly.
“It all happened so fast – I was just excited,” he said. His performances at Under-21 level have backed up that progress, including a goal off the bench in a 2-0 win over Brentford Under-21s at Wheatsheaf Park.
Next step for Everton’s academy stars…
Olayiwola’s involvement around the first team arrives in his 12th year at the club, and it followed the signing of his first professional contract. “I’m very proud because I’ve worked a long time for this,” he said of that milestone. He has also spoken about the confidence he draws from being close to Moyes’ senior squad.
“That was surreal. Being around so many people you watch on TV, warming up and being in the same environment as them was crazy,” he said of his time on the fringes against Sunderland, adding: “I take a lot of confidence knowing I was called up to be with them, so I’ve gone into this week – with my own age group – to perform.”
Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Wolves offers both players a tangible next step, even if neither is assured of featuring. Graham’s Tottenham involvement suggests he remains ahead of Olayiwola in the pecking order for now, but the makeup of Moyes’ bench will again depend on factors such as goalkeeper cover and the fitness of Norgaard and Rohl. What is clear is that Everton’s academy pipeline is producing genuine options at a moment when the first-team squad needs them. For a broader view of how these squad pressures fit into Everton’s wider ambitions this season,
Read Everton’s coverage of Everton’s European push: Elite ambition or premature dream? offers useful context. Further detail on the pair’s involvement at Tottenham was first reported in the Liverpool Echo report.
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Everton vs Wolves: Carabao Cup preview & head-to-heads
Everton vs Wolves: Carabao Cup preview & head-to-heads