Young Irish striker joins Everton U21s

On the other hand, I assume that Roberto has had some involvement with his acquisition, so presumably he must have spotted something.

Being optimistic, as most of us blues are, he may be a late developer, or one of those players who blossom later than his peers.

There have been a few down the years, who have been released for free and then suddenly become unpolished gems...

Again, my optimism is running away with me!

I bet his Mum loves him though!

A fresh club and a new manager who believes in developing young players - rather than spending 𧴜M+ on an array of expensive foreign talent - could be just what he needs.

Surprise surprise, he wasn't able to single-handedly rescue a bad team. But Man Utd gave up on him. Signings like Byrne are one way Roberto can get the better of the richer clubs. I like it.

There is probably (hopefully) a lot of what you say is what actually transpired!

However it brought to mind another Man Utd Striker loaned out, I am referring to Nick Powell who each time I saw him for Wigan (are you listening Phil Walling?) looked to be an even better prospect!

Only time will tell !

Another young lad that Roberto is giving a chance too... Good luck!

Hopefully we'll give a lot of the youth a chance, if we can establish the reputation as a club that gives youth it's chance in the first team and a fair crack at the big time (Coleman, Barkley and Stones are a good basis) then it can only help us in the future.

When going to young prospects, we can genuinely say "Do you want a chance at a top 6 team or would you rather rot on the bench as a token quota-filling squad member at Chelski or City?"

Martinez has stated before that he thinks English football in general doesn’t develop players well in the 18-21 stage. Most clubs seem to have made a decision by 18, when in fact (according to Martinez) the next three years are vital. If we can take cast-offs and give them that development that other clubs don’t seem able to, then we’re going to find some good players, as well as generate a little bit of income selling off the ones we don’t want to the lower league clubs we’ve loaned them to as part of their development.

There is also that element of having ’failed’ once and having something to prove. If Man Utd let you go, so be it, it happens to a lot of young players, but if you got a second chance at a top club like Everton and still didn’t make it that time, then you’ve ’failed’ twice, and your reputation has taken a hit.

Man City have already let some very good youngsters go, Kieran Trippier at Burnley is probably the highest profile example, and there will be the odd player here and there every year that we can probably do something with.

And by the way, he played 13 times for Carlisle, mostly as a sub, at the age of 18. I wouldn’t read anything at all into that, let alone not very much.

Some very good points there. Like Chris mentions in the post above you, we won't have the massive budgets of the money clubs.

What Martinez is doing is obvious. He is looking 2 years down the line by bringing a young squad together, and allowing them to develop, while instilling a team spirit in them. At the same time, he has experience around them to guide.

Go through the young players and imagine what power, football ability and 2 years experience playing together with the starting 11 could be like in 2 years.