David Moyes has been given an extended look at some of Everton’s academy players after international call-ups left first-team training unusually thin at Finch Farm.
Everton have 16 players away on international duty at various levels, according to Royal Blue Mersey. That figure includes academy internationals rather than representing 16 members of Moyes’s senior squad, with 10 first-team players originally heading away during the break. The absences have nevertheless created an opportunity for a sizeable group of youngsters to work alongside the senior players who remained on Merseyside.
Everton youngsters step up at Finch Farm
Royal Blue Mersey identified only nine senior players in the training footage it analysed, including Christian Nørgaard as the summer signing continues his return to fitness.
The younger contingent included goalkeepers George Pickford, Zach Lee and Seve Patrick, alongside Ezra Carrington, John Dodds, Luca Davis, Reece Lambert, Francis Boggan, Harvey Foster, Jonathan Nsangou and Ceiran Loney.
There may have been others involved, but those were the academy players identified from the footage. For Moyes, the international break has therefore provided an opportunity to assess players he might ordinarily see less frequently in a first-team environment.
Two names have already attracted particular attention. Boggan is only 15 and has represented England at Under-16 level, while Nsangou has taken his opportunity one step further.The 16-year-old scored Everton’s late equaliser in Friday’s 3-3 behind-closed-doors friendly against Blackburn Rovers at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
As we reported after the game, Jack Grealish supplied the assist as Nsangou marked his first senior appearance with a goal. Charly Alcaraz and Thierno Barry were Everton’s other scorers.
For Everton, the Blackburn game was primarily an opportunity to keep those left behind sharp during the international break. The knock-on benefit has been a closer look at the next group coming through Finch Farm, with several academy players getting valuable time alongside Moyes’s senior squad.
Nsangou, in particular, has already made his opportunity count.
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