Season › 2024-25 › News Aled Thomas is the latest Academy prospect to sign up Michael Kenrick 07/07/2025 7comments | Jump to last Everton have announced that promising young defender Aled Thomas has signed his first professional contract, committing his future to the Blues until the end of June 2027. The 18-year-old, a product of the Finch Farm academy system, has agreed a 2-year deal, solidifying his long-standing association with the club he joined at just 7 years of age. Wrexham-born Thomas has been a consistent performer for Paul Tait's Under-21s this season, showcasing his versatility and attacking prowess from defence. He made 15 appearances in Premier League 2, chipping in with an impressive 3 goals and 2 assists. His contributions weren't limited to league action, as Thomas played a crucial role in the U21s' Liverpool Senior Cup triumph. Featuring in all three games, he notably provided a superb assist for Martin Sherif's goal from the left flank in the 4-1 final victory over Lower Breck at Walton Hall Park. Further demonstrating his importance, he also featured six times in the Premier League Cup and twice in the Vertu Motors Trophy. Primarily a centre-back, Thomas's ability to operate on the left side of defence has made him a valuable asset. His talent has been recognized on the international stage, earning five caps for Wales at U19 level, including playing the full 90 minutes in their recent fixtures against Turkey and Portugal. He has proudly represented his country at every level since U16s. In a historic moment back in February, Thomas also had the distinction of becoming the first player to captain an Everton side at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium, leading out the U18s in their friendly match against Wigan Athletic. This new contract is a testament to Thomas's hard work and potential, and all at Everton will be eagerly watching his continued development at the club. Reader Comments (7) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () Sean Kelly 1 Posted 07/07/2025 at 14:55:37 Good luck to the lad. This looks like nothing has changed at Everton except we have a lot more expense at senior level with all these inactive executives. Had Billy returned, Michael Kenrick 2 Posted 07/07/2025 at 15:11:43 "Had Billy returned,"...Not, I hope, waking the dead, Sean, or we'll have another Kenwright thread on the go before you know it. So Neal William Maupay, perhaps? No, not his middle name? Bilyaletdinov is too long in the tooth by now, surely.No, I'm drawing a blank. Danny O'Neill 3 Posted 07/07/2025 at 15:33:40 Genuinely intrigued if we have more expense at senior level Sean.I don't think we've recruited more. I don't know if the new structure costs more than the previous one.Denise Barrett-Baxendale replaced by a new CEO. Chairman for Chairman, a straight swap, the new one being our owner. I would imagine he will take the dividends of his investment elsewhere than taking a direct salary.Sharp and other board members replaced. Thelwell and his team being replaced by the new recruitment structure. Again, it just looks different.Seems to me, they've restructured. If anything, streamlined it a bit, or just made it more efficient and effective. I can't remember the name, but didn't we take in an investor too, who I don't think takes a salary. Someone can correct me. I won't claim to know if it costs more or less. It's just been restructured from what I can see.Now to get it right on the pitch. Hugh Jenkins 4 Posted 07/07/2025 at 15:46:27 Other teams seem to be able to integrate young players into the first team structure early - whilst, at Everton, we always seem to be sending them out on loan until they are well into their twenties and, more often and not, they pick up a bad injury whilst on loan that hampers their further develiopment, rather than aids it.Hopefully, Aled will prove to be our second string left back PDQ and ditto for Roman Dixon on the right side.Rant over. John Chambers 5 Posted 07/07/2025 at 15:53:47 Hugh just thinking myself it must be between him and Elijah Campbell as our back up to Myko at the moment. Neil Thomas 6 Posted 07/07/2025 at 15:58:57 Why are we struggling to bring in any first team players, yet our womens team seem to be having no problems? Its great signing all these young lads on, but its senior players were short of Sean Kelly 7 Posted 07/07/2025 at 18:08:29 Danny you say they have made thing more efficient and effective. I remember houlier of the Ted shite saying he was hampered by a recruitment committee. It slowed the decision process up to the point where preferred targets had gone elsewhere. I fear we have the same situation at Everton. Too many people having an input. Look at our only signing so far Alcaraz. Now I know his arrival in feb wasnt done by the recent recruits but we needed to get a special dispensation from the pope to get him in on loan and again it took an age to get it over the line recently.With this committee in place we wont be able to buy a bag of crisps as they will be arguing over which flavour. The delay in getting the Barry deal done is just typical Everton. We wait and wait and dither. How many times have we seen this before. I genuinely fear for us this season if this is to continue Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. How to get rid of these ads and support TW © ToffeeWeb