As 19-year-old Adam Aznou joined Everton last week, and with rumours swirling that Tyler Dibling is looking to force a move to the Blues, we decided to analyse Everton’s record with recruiting young talent. 

Here’s every player under the age of 21 who’s signed for Everton in the last 10 years, from the success stories to those who never made an appearance in Everton blue. 

The Good

Jarrad Branthwaite

There’s no doubt 23-year-old Jarrad Branthwaite is one of the most successful Everton purchases in recent memory. The then 17-year-old central defender joined from Carlisle United in January 2020 for a fee of around £1m after making 14 first-team appearances.

Fast forward to 2025, and he’s developed into one of the best defenders in the Premier League. After a successful loan with PSV Eindhoven in 22/23, Branthwaite returned to Goodison ahead of the 23/24 season. Since then, he’s appeared 73 times for Everton, consistently ranking as one of the highest performers in the squad.

Luckily for Everton, the 6’5 Englishman committed his long-term future to the club this summer, signing a contract extension which keeps him on Merseyside until 2030.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Despite a decline in performances over his last few injury-riddled seasons for Everton, it’s impossible to deny that Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s time at Goodison Park was a success. 

The striker, who signed from Sheffield United in 2016 for £1.5m at the age of 19, made 273 appearances for Everton and now sits third on the club’s Premier League top scorers chart, behind only Romelu Lukaku and Duncan Ferguson. 

Of his 71 goals for Everton, none will be remembered more than his diving header against Crystal Palace in May 2022, which sealed Everton’s survival in the Premier League. 

Amadou Onana

A success from a business perspective as well as a playing one, Amadou Onana is one of the few players on this list who immediately entered the starting XI. The then 20-year-old Belgian defensive midfielder signed from Lille in 2022 for a fee of £33m.

In two seasons for Everton, Onana made 72 appearances, scoring four goals and adding three assists. A robust number six, with natural talent on the ball, Onana sometimes rubbed Everton supporters the wrong way, and unfortunately, may be remembered most of all for his terrible penalty vs Fulham in the quarterfinals of the League Cup. 

However, he was a reliable performer in the centre of midfield. After two seasons at Everton, he is also one of the few players on this list who Everton turned a profit on, joining Aston Villa for a fee of £50m.

Youssef Chermiti

It’s hard to judge 21-year-old striker Youssef Chermiti just yet, but he’s shown glimpses of being a shrewd acquisition in his two seasons since joining Everton from Sporting Lisbon in 2023 for an initial fee of £10.4m.

A relatively unknown quantity at the time, Chermiti joined Everton after breaking into the Sporting first team in 22/23, scoring three goals in sixteen first-team appearances. After some glimpses off the bench in his first season, Chermiti started 24/25’s pre-season well, scoring twice and getting an assist in an opening fixture against Sligo Rovers.

However, injury curtailed his progress, and after a lengthy spell on the sidelines following surgery, Chermiti made just four appearances last campaign. Now fit and ready to go, Everton supporters will hope to see why Kevin Thelwell and the recruitment team were so keen to land the Portuguese striker.

The Bad

Nathan Patterson

It’s probably unfair to say that the signing of Nathan Patterson was a bad one, only that it hasn’t panned out as fans were hoping it would when the 20-year-old Scott signed from Rangers for £10m in January 2022.

At the time, supporters were under the impression that Patterson was the long-term right-back replacement for captain Seamus Coleman. However, since then, Patterson has failed to impress Frank Lampard, Sean Dyche, or David Moyes enough to earn a consistent spot in the starting 11.

After a shaky pre-season, it now looks like Jake O’Brien is certain to start at right-back, despite joining the club as a centre-back. For Patterson, his last chance may have passed him by. 

Mason Holgate

Again, it’s unfair to say that Mason Holgate’s time at Everton was a failure. The defender, who signed from Barnsley in 2015 at the age of 18, made 152 appearances in just under a decade at the club. 

But after looking like he was going to be the next big thing for Everton during his first Premier League appearances, Holgate never quite hit the heights expected of him. His role never developed past being a squad player, and Everton struggled to sell him when it was clear his future with the club was limited.

In the end, Holgate only officially departed Everton this summer, despite not making a competitive appearance for Everton in almost three years. 

Ademola Lookman

When Ademola Lookman came off the bench against Manchester City in his debut appearance after signing from Charlton in 2017, the 19-year-old looked like he’d gotten lost on his way to school. But when he slotted the ball through the legs of Claudio Bravo to make it 4-0, it capped off one of the more jubilant days in recent Everton history.

Unfortunately, after that, it never quite clicked for Lookman at Everton; he made 48 appearances for the Toffees, scoring four goals, but spent several loan spells away from the club before joining RB Leipzig permanently in 2019. 

In 2022, Lookman joined Atalanta, and since then, he’s flourished into one of Europe’s most exciting forward players. In 118 appearances for the Italian club, he’s scored 52 goals. In the 2024 Europa League Final, Lookman had the night of his life, scoring three marvellous goals to almost single-handedly lift the trophy for Atlanta.

This summer, it appears Lookman is on his way to Italian giants Inter Milan, in a marquee move for the 28-year-old in the prime of his career. For Everton supporters, it’s hard not to wonder what could have been.

Moise Kean

There was plenty of excitement around Everton when they secured the signature of 19-year-old Italian ‘wonderkid’ Moise Kean, who joined the Toffees from Juventus in 2019 for £29.1 million. After scoring seven goals for Juventus the season before, many analysts believed Moise Kean was the next big thing in European football.

However, he frankly just didn’t seem to like playing for Everton. Kean made 29 appearances in his first season, scoring twice and adding two assists. When Carlo Ancelotti took over the side in January of that year, many felt that the Italian could get the best out of his countryman, but it didn’t happen. 

Kean never made another competitive appearance for Everton, spending a year on loan at PSG, and another two with Juventus, whom he eventually joined permanently in 2023. For all the hype, it’s disappointing Kean never made his mark in England; the move probably came too early in his career. The 25-year-old now looks settled back in Italy, scoring 19 goals in 32 Serie A appearances for Fiorentina last year. 

The Ugly

Niels Nkounkou

Niels Nkounkou’s move to Everton was a surprising one when it happened in the summer of 2020. The 19-year-old joined when Carlo Ancelotti was at the helm, and was expected to link up with the under-23s.

But the pacey left-back made seven first-team appearances in his first year at Everton, and looked like he could be one to watch for the future, with speed and quality dribbling ability. 

After those first few exciting appearances, Nkounkou seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. He went out on loan to Cardiff City, Standard Liege, and Saint-Etienne, which eventually became a permanent move. The 24-year-old now plays in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt, where he’s made 62 appearances in two solid seasons with the club.

Sandro Ramirez

The infamous summer of 2017. In the first window under the control of owner Farhad Moshiri, Everton shelled out over £200m on new players, and it’s no surprise that three of Everton’s worst young signings in recent memory came during this spell.

21-year-old Sandro Ramirez came in as the replacement striker for Everton’s Premier League record goalscorer, Romelu Lukaku, for a fee of just £5.2m. The Barcelona academy product joined after one year with Malaga, where he scored 16 goals in 31 appearances. His highlight videos at the time made him look like a world-beater.

World beater he was not, and Ramirez made just eight Premier League appearances for Everton in his short-lived career. His only competitive goal came in a 5-1 drubbing to Atalanta in the Europa League.

Ramirez went on loan to Sevilla, Real Sociedad, and Real Valladolid before joining SD Huesca in La Liga 2 permanently in 2020. Ramirez is actually coming off his best campaign since he joined Everton. The now 30-year-old scored nine goals in 31 La Liga appearances for Las Palmas last season. 

Nikola Vlasic

Another of the summer 2017 signings, 19-year-old Croatian forward Nikola Vlasic signed from Hadjuk Split after appearing against Everton in Europa League qualifiers that summer.

“He is one of the big young talents in Europe,” Ronald Koeman said at the time. “Nikola is one of those players who can play a big part in Everton's future and in what we want to achieve as a club."

He didn’t. Vlasic made 12 Premier League appearances for Everton that season, before leaving the club to join CSKA Moscow on loan. Vlasic never made another appearance for Everton, signing permanently for the Russian side a year later.

Vlasic returned to the Premier League on loan with West Ham in 2021, but didn’t perform particularly well there either. Vlasic now plays for Torino, where he scored five and added four assists in 30 appearances last season. 

Henry Onyekuru

Everton signed 20-year-old Nigerian striker Henry Onyekuru from Anderlecht for £7m in June of 2017 after he finished as the joint top scorer in the Belgian Super League the season before. However, Everton immediately loaned the striker back to Anderlecht.

Onyekuru never made an appearance for Everton. The striker was denied a work permit on three occasions, so he went on loan again to Galatasaray before he was sold to Monaco in 2019. 

The 28-year-old journeyman now plays for Al-Fayha in the Saudi Pro League, where he scored 11 goals last season. 

Shani Tarashaj

Another signing who never played for Everton, Swiss forward Shani Tarashaj, joined from Swiss side Grasshoppers for £3m in 2016. Similar to Onyekuru, Tarashaj was immediately loaned back to the side in Zurich. 

Somehow, this move was even less successful than Onyekuru’s. After signing for Everton almost a decade ago, he made only 24 professional appearances, scoring once for Eintracht Frankfurt. Tarashaj retired from professional football earlier this summer at just 30 years old.

Reader Comments (26)

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Ernie Baywood
1 Posted 08/08/2025 at 13:58:58
There's good and bad in there. But we've had good and bad at every age group.

The difference here is that, on the whole, we probably recouped our transfer fees.

Peter Gorman
2 Posted 08/08/2025 at 14:26:39
Cannot understand the reasoning behind some of this sorting.

Holgate, ultimately found wanting, did more for us than Chermiti yet has, but I guess hope springs eternal. Also not sure why Niels Nkounkou ranks worse than the utter waste of talent that was Moise Kean.

Robert Tressell
3 Posted 08/08/2025 at 15:03:54
Peter # 2, once you have used ChatGPT a few times you’ll understand the reasoning.
Frank Crewe
4 Posted 08/08/2025 at 15:21:11
I'm sure every Premier League club has a list of youngsters who didn't reach their potential for one reason or another. Homesick, tactics, injuries etc etc. It's just the way it is. The same players go to some other club and something clicks and away they go.

Predicting how a youngster with potential will pan out is not an exact science. It seems to me it's mostly down to fluke luck. If you buy enough of them, eventually one or two will pay off and the scout that spotted them will be lauded as a genius.

Then all the ones that he recommended that turned out to be crap, or the good ones he missed altogether will be forgotten about.

John Williams
5 Posted 08/08/2025 at 17:19:36
There was also Brendon Galloway, Luke Garbutt,
likely to be more than that.
Mike Gaynes
6 Posted 08/08/2025 at 17:23:17
Holgate didn't cost us much financially, but he was very expensive anyway. He cost us games.

Nkounkou isn't "solid" for Frankfurt anymore. He started only four games last season and he played a grand total of five minutes over the last three months of the season.

John #5, I was gonna mention Garbutt but you beat me to it!

Tommy Carter
7 Posted 08/08/2025 at 20:02:34
@5 John

I was really impressed with Galloway. I think of him and James Vaughan as 2 recent young players that I think would've been international standard if they hadn't had such horrific injuries.

Garbutt was a very talented player with loads of ability but lacked the intensity to make the breakthrough.

Others such as George Green were a disaster and Josh Bowler was unsuccessful.

Stones is an example of a big success. Despite being a Moyes regime signing, he benefited from Roberto being the manager as I'm not sure Moyes ever would've given him a run of games. Much like Mustafi and Eric Dier – Moyes had all 3 of them available to pick during his time as manager. And didn't give any of them a minute of action.

Within 3 years of leaving and no games under Moyes, Dier was playing for England.

Within 2 years of leaving and no games under Moyes. Mustafi won a World Cup.

Within 1 year of leaving and no games under Moyes. Stones was playing for England and in a World Cup stand by squad.

It's okay identifying the talent, but you have to have a structure in place that will allow it to flourish.

Kieran Kinsella
8 Posted 08/08/2025 at 21:35:37
Tommy,

People go on about Dier but he wasn't really an Everton player, he was on loan to our Under-18s as Sporting wanted to "toughen him up" then he returned to their B team and later that season made his full Sporting debut.

So it wasn't like he was brought in as a Moyes signing per se. Based on Kevin Sheedy's remarks, Moyes probably didn't even know he existed if he was in the U18s on loan.

Danny O'Neill
9 Posted 09/08/2025 at 06:49:36
It's all subjective, Phil @2.

There could have been a disappointing category.

I think he just about squeezes into the 10 years category, but Tom Davies?

If we went a little bit further back, Jack Rodwell and Ross Barkley.

All started as exciting young players with talent and potential, but faded for various reasons. Maybe, especially with them being local, homegrown kids, we expected too much from them?

Tony Abrahams
10 Posted 09/08/2025 at 07:17:44
Tom Davies's career has really nosedived, Danny, but imagine being a young footballer at Everton over the last 10 years. Getting passed from pillar to post by all those different managers whilst playing for a team that was slowly getting progressively worse!

Holgate cost us points; his partner in crime, Michael Keane, probably cost us even more… but, when the chips were down, Holgate kept the ball alive against Palace and his partner suddenly turned into Dennis Bergkamp for a few glorious seconds!

This article highlights that it's very rare for the club to lose money when they sign young players — something Robert and Sam have been telling us on this website for years!

Danny O'Neill
11 Posted 09/08/2025 at 08:05:55
Yes Tony, I didn't go into reasons, but that was the case with Davies. It won't have helped his formative years and development.
Tommy Carter
12 Posted 09/08/2025 at 09:23:07
@8 Kieran

He had him in the midst of the club at a time when he was giving playing time to Magaye Gueye and Apostolos Vellios. He was with Everton 18 months in total and for Moyes to have been unaware of him is a sad indictment on Moyes if that is in fact the case.

The point being, Dier may not have been ready. And we will never know because Moyes wouldn't give him an opportunity.

Throughout the preseason he has refused to give opportunities to young players. If that is him trying to make a statement, then it is even more disappointing. He may think they are not good enough and he may be right. But how can it be known unless they are given a chance to prove themselves?

His handling of Rooney was appalling at times. He very rarely completed 90 mins and it was incredibly frustrating to see him held back on the bench until the last 10 minutes sometimes.

Moyes will only act when forced to do so. Changes and introduction of younger players have to be forced upon him.

Joe McMahon
13 Posted 09/08/2025 at 09:59:39
Tommy, your last paragraph is 100% bang on.

And correct substitutions far too late (still).

Justin Doone
14 Posted 09/08/2025 at 11:46:17
The above list tells the story of a desperate, pathetic, poorly run club.

We had no money but seemed willing to risk millions on foreign teenagers playing in poor leagues in the hope we could find a gem to make profit on them.

More recently the risks escalated with Moshiri. We got lucky with Onana, less so (but still got most of our money back) with Kean. But that was a combined £60M risk that should have been better invested in about 4 proven quality players.

A club with a good first team and plenty of cash / profit to spend can afford to take more risks. We have not been in a position to do so for 40 years!

Justin Doone
15 Posted 09/08/2025 at 11:59:58
In defense of Moyes, and most managers, I think with young players there was a few main issues.

1. Wanting to keep young players grounded and hungry to improve and develop into being the best they can be.

2. Looking after them for the long term, which used to mean slowly building up their game time, allowing their bodies to mature into the physicality of a demanding sport.

3. Until they sign a long-term contract, youngsters can and have been easily poached.

I think the majority of clubs now don't care if youngsters are overplayed. It's far more about the here and now, less about the next 3 years.

Injuries happen at any point. Player development and player welfare, my arse! It gets talked about a lot but everyone is in it for themselves.

I think Moyes would now handle the next Rooney very differently. I hope we get to put that to the test.

Tommy Carter
16 Posted 09/08/2025 at 12:21:06
@15 Justin.

Moyes couldn't even get the best out the actual Rooney when he had him at Man Utd.

The reality is that these players can of course be poached. All our best players are always likely to be.

So make the most of them when we have them!

Chris Leyland
17 Posted 09/08/2025 at 12:50:24
Tommy,

Rooney was 28 and on the way out of Man Utd when Moyes joined. That's Rooney's own words by the way.

Wayne said that Moyes gave him a new lease of life and he was their top scorer and top assister that season despite their poor season.

Mark Taylor
18 Posted 09/08/2025 at 12:56:34
Wow, that is not a very inspiring list. Even two of the 'goods' are moot. It's mostly a tale of failure.

That said, I'd add two to the 'goods' even if we didn't get to benefit from them, Lookman, who I always felt we let go too easily and Antonee Robinson. Both can be said to have succeeded at the highest level. As can Gordon.

Lookman was of course one of our 'golden age' of 5 youngsters who helped England Under-20s win the World Cup not that long ago (6 if you include Davies who was around the squad at the time). Most of that cohort didn't kick on.

Matt Traynor
19 Posted 09/08/2025 at 13:04:23
Another player to consider for the list is 21 year old (when signed) Muhamed Bešić. Shortly after he signed from Ferencváros, I was in Eastern Europe on a 2 week tour of various beer festivals.

We were heading from Budapest to Bratislava, and had to do it by bus, as a sudden migration crisis from the Middle East had led to the suspension of the rail service. Anyway the bus station was close to their then-new football stadium, so as we had time to kill, I went over.

Once they'd established I was an Everton fan – they told me they were delighted that Bešić was to play for us – they thought playing in the Premier League would take him to another level.

He had a bad ACL injury whilst with us, and things started to unravel with Martinez at the helm, but after a couple of loans to Championship sides, he went back to "Fradi" as Ferencváros are known.

He's still playing today - at 32 - having signed for Spartak Subotica (which sounds like a Dutch nightclub) - in January this year.

Dave Abrahams
20 Posted 09/08/2025 at 13:21:25
Justin (15),

Rooney was different — extra, extra special. Walter Smith wanted to play him in the first team when he was 15. Most of us recognised he was a standout unique player — Moyes didn't, kept him back if anything, and we lost out seeing less than we should have done.

As any youngster anywhere stood out as much as Wayne as a 16-year-old and stood the test of time like Wayne did, until Kenwright paid over the odds and brought him back when his best days were long gone!

Alan J Thompson
21 Posted 09/08/2025 at 13:29:08
How long ago was it that a trialist was deemed not good enough, Haaland was it?
Andy Griff
22 Posted 09/08/2025 at 15:11:18
No mention of John Stones?
Derek Street
23 Posted 09/08/2025 at 20:24:10
What is worse than this by a country mile has been our loan policy over the last four seasons, this would be a far better analysis, and even more depressing.

From El Ghazi to Lindstrøm, this has been an absolute disaster and furthermore a continued waste of opportunities, as no one at all has had a major impact on Everton Football Club.

Jerome Shields
24 Posted 10/08/2025 at 07:40:52
Don't agree with the categorization, but at least it's a talking point.

Ultimately, Everton have not been a good career choice for young players. Threats of relegation, changing managers, loaning out youth to reduce the wages bill (many out of sight, out of mind) and basically fucking about with their development with poor coaches and poor attitude (cheats) at Finch Farm.

Calvert Lewin is the perfect example: poorly developed on basic technique, played to aid spoiling tactics, on one of the many couches a lot, mental health problems and ending up delusional. If you play for a basket-case club, you end up a basket-case.

To a certain extent, this was the experience of many of the above players, but some managed to escape, but are probably scarred to some extent for the rest of their lives.

Branthwaite is a really good player to come through this, but should be playing for England. Onana, Kean, Lookman, Vlasic, Robinson, Garbutt (Ancelotti didn't know he was a nEverton player) all went on and did well in my opinion.

Everton have held on to older players too long. The 1-year extension has been a block on player development and added to the politics of attitude at the club, putting a drag on development.

It has now got to the stage that Everton have to be very careful of change for fear of destabilising the squad. Even I realised this in regard to the Summer transfer window and tempered my attitude as a result.

But change will be forced on Moyes by circumstances (injuries or underperforming players), whether he likes it or not. It is going to be the usual season for Everton.

I found the Stadium background strange against Roma. Everton looked that they needed more right-footed players, such was the performance on the right side of the pitch.

Jay Harris
25 Posted 10/08/2025 at 16:43:53
No mention of Jonjoe Kenny, surely a moderate sucess
Jerome Shields
26 Posted 10/08/2025 at 21:24:32
Jay #25,

Yes, Jonjoe was a success. He would get selected now. A local lad too. One that got away.

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