Joe Hilton 65

Joe Hilton signed a two-year scholarship deal with Everton in February 2016 after leaving Manchester City and joined a group of promising young goalkeepers at Finch Farm.

Hilton had already played for City's U18s team while aged just 15, and was highly-rated by coaches at the Etihad Campus. The young 6'-5" giant saved a penalty for City's U18s last April as a youthful Citizens line-up lost 4-1 in North London. And it is believed Everton had to fend off interest from other top flight clubs to persuade Hilton to come to Merseyside.

The competition at Finch Farm, however, was tough as he did not play for the U18s in that first full season, 2016-17, and it took quite a while the following season before he appeared on the bench for an Everton U18s game in November 2016. He would not get a game for the U18s and was an unused sub in the brief FA Youth Cup campaign, but did appear in one Under-23 game, in the Premier League Cup at Portsmouth.

For season 2017-18, however, he started as first-choice keeper for the U18s and also featured in a handful of games for the U23s until he was rotated with newcomer Nicolas Hansen. He signed a new one-year contract in July 2018, despite the arrival of Joao Virginia, who would eventually go above him in the pecking order for the U23s, with Hilton spending most games on the bench.

It came as no surprise when he was farmed out on loan to Marine for the second half of the 2018-19 season, with a deal whereby he could swing by on an as-needed basis to bolster David Unsworth's U23 squad as sub keeper.  He played 18 games for Marine, keeping 6 clean sheets but Everton chose to finally release him at the end of the season.

FactFile