Everton close in on deal for Dundee United teenager Hutchinson

Although youngsters always have a long way to go when 16 years of age, this sounds like a signing of a special talent. Best of luck to him and hope he comes good.

About time.
We have been far too nice as a club.

Moyes will never play him.

It's hard to know what to think about this.

Yea, it's good that we're scouting out and (possibly) picking up good young talent. But one article mentions three such recent acquisitions: John Dodds, Reuben Gokah, and of course the only one to shine so far, Braiden Graham.

By any measure, they are miles off the first team. Dodds I can't figure out at all as he does not appear to have played a single game for the U18s. Signed as a 16-year-old last summer for the Academy and he has not played a single game yet???

Apparently, after moving from Hearts' academy to Everton in the summer of 2025 as a first-year scholar, Dodds suffered a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in just his second game. (These must have both been pre-season friendlies, largely undocumented.) The injury required immediate surgery and sidelined the highly-rated Scottish centre-back for the entirety of his first campaign on Merseyside.

Despite this rotten luck, in January 2026, when he turned 17, Everton secured Dodds's future by signing him to his first professional contract — a 2½-year deal that runs through June 2028.

Gokah has done a bit better, and Graham is of course a star who has not been given a chance with the first team. The chances of progressing from the Academy seem to get more and more remote with every passing season.