Michael Kenrick 14/08/2026 13comments  |  Jump to last

Melvin Matos warming up prior to the FA Youth Cup Quarter Final match between Manchester City and Everton in March 2026
(Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images)

Everton have secured the future of highly rated midfield prospect Melvin Matos, tying the 17-year-old down to his first professional contract until June 2028.

The tenacious central midfielder who holds English and Ghanaian nationality, has earned widespread praise across Finch Farm for his consistency, work rate, and defensive discipline since joining the Blues in 2024 from Norwich City. The contract reflects Everton's ongoing commitment to protecting their core Academy talent as they build depth through the age groups.

Academy Record & Progress

Matos has steadily established himself as a fixture in the youth setup:

  • Matos made 43 appearances for Everton U18s across all competitions, establishing himself as an essential engine in the centre of the park.

  • He has captained the U18 side on 5 occasions.

  • Matos scored his first goal for the club during a 1-1 league draw against Blackburn Rovers.

  • His performances earned him a call-up to Paul Tait’s Under-21s squad, making his Premier League 2 debut as a second-half sub against Brighton.

Style of Play & Profile

Speaking about his style of play, the energetic box-to-box midfielder noted that he models his game on defensive midfield legends N'Golo Kanté and Claude Makélélé. His main strengths centre on ball-winning, pressing intensity, and quick recovery runs to break up opposition attacks — traits that have made him a standout figure for the Finch Farm coaching staff.

The brother of former Chelsea midfielder Alex Matos, Melvin now looks set to continue his development with the U21s as the new Premier League 2 season gets underway next week, with the aim of course to make that huge step up  to first-team consideration.

 

Reader Comments (13)

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Mike Allison
1 Posted 15/08/2026 at 10:24:10
It feels like we're quite a long way behind some clubs in producing young players consistently.

We do get the odd standout player over the years but we seem capable of having 25-30 players in our U18 and U21 set-up and none of them make the first team. Worse, we don't even seem to be able to sell them for any money and just keep releasing them on free transfers.

I've always felt that we seem to just ‘hope' players will develop rather than maximising their potential.
Alan J Thompson
2 Posted 15/08/2026 at 10:37:28
I know the Academy is under new management and this is just a contract for turning 17 but I can't help but smile at the phrase "widespread praise across Finch Farm" which will probably be followed by the call to loan him out so he can improve.

Improving the standard of Academy competitions should be something the Premier League and FA should be looking at once they have sorted out Man City's PSR problems and the standard of refereeing in England.

As a matter of interest, does anybody know how many juniors we have at each age level, given about 10 players was it were let go at the end of last season, and others seem to enter at 7 or 8 years of age?
Martin Reppion
3 Posted 15/08/2026 at 12:47:23
Mike, not producing players seems a bit of a strange claim given that Barcelona have just signed an England international that came through our ranks and on whom we made quite a handsome amount.
Anthonee Robinson, a left back who couldn't make our first team when Lucas Digne was in the way, but has since proved to be more than useful playing in the world cup. Harrison Armstrong looks like a future international and we may now be in a financial position to keep him. These are amongst the most recent. Not too far back we had Ross Barkley, Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert. There was a young centre forward who didn't do too badly as well.
I know these are just a few names, but given a player's career is usually around 15 years, if we got one through each season we would have a first team full of home grown talent. No club does that. Looking down the leagues there are a lot of ex blue academy players making a living and better. I really don't think we do a lot worse than any other club in this respect.
Dave Abrahams
4 Posted 15/08/2026 at 12:51:33
The under 18’s are currently beating Leeds 4-1 with goals from Brookes, Robert, Adudu and Nsangou, I think we are going to hear a lot about Nsangou this season even though he is very young he has outstanding potential— over to you Moyes!
Dave Abrahams
5 Posted 15/08/2026 at 12:56:14
Martin (3) “ If we got one player through each season we’d have a full team from home grown talent”

Well Martin you’ve named just seven from the last 20 odd years!
Dave Abrahams
6 Posted 15/08/2026 at 13:02:20
It’s now 6-1 with further goals from Robert and Nsangou—- Remember the name Nsangou!
Phil Roberts
7 Posted 15/08/2026 at 13:19:27
One issue with players in U15 or U18 is that some develop faster physically than others. So a star at 17 may more be because they are stronger and faster than their contemporaries but then caught up and their abilities are not of sufficient standard.
Martin Reppion
8 Posted 15/08/2026 at 13:37:54
Dave, that was my point. No club brings through that much talent or they would all be full of home grown players and there would be no need of a transfer system.
Some are ready but their paths to the first team are blocked. Some are late developers. But all clubs have the youth sides and move players on. Some make it elsewhere, others don't. My argument is that, unlike the pessimists on ToffeeWeb, I don't see us as being any worse than any other club in the league. Arsenal last season, and possibly Villa this year have their generational talent coming through. We have Armstrong looking better by the game. But they are the exceptions.
Dave Abrahams
9 Posted 15/08/2026 at 19:16:17
Martin (8) I honestly don't know how other clubs have fared with young players coming through their Academies but I think that Everton's Academy has been badly run the last 10 years with the style of play being very robotic and individual play being ruled out.

It has now been taken over by different staff — let's see if they make a difference. They started well today with that 6-1 win v Leeds and there is quite a few individual young players in that squad with a few injured and plenty of players with potential... Mind you, that potential takes time to blossom.
Tim Stone
10 Posted 15/08/2026 at 20:12:21
Very few players come through academies. Everton is not better or worse than any other Premier League team. In fact, they are better than many.

At least many of their youngsters progress to continue playing in the four top leagues.

What seems to be lacking is how many Everton supporters have limited knowledge of the differing levels their youngsters have. A player doing well in the U21s is conference league level at best. Therefore calls (or criticism) to/ off Moyes to play them in the first team is farcical.

An example, Harrison Armstrong begins to develop in the Championship (a level way below the Premier League)… suddenly some supporters appear to believe he is the answer to everything.

Same as Dibling. They are young. They are inexperienced. They need time to develop.
Dave Abrahams
11 Posted 16/08/2026 at 08:51:07
Tim (10) Once in a while a youngster stands out to some supporters and they deserve to be on the bench, at least, to many fans, like Graham, made a goal the other week for the first team after coming on at the very end of the game, stayed on the bench yesterday, I think Graham would have had many minutes on the pitch last season in the premier league with most premier league managers, Moyes stands out as one manager who doesn’t give youngsters a real chance of getting invaluable experience at the top level. Armstrong is another who deserves more games, I think he has the talent.

There are other players who played consistently last season who I don’t think are good enough to be played that often.
Dean Johnson
12 Posted 16/08/2026 at 09:17:00
He will be sold to a Championship club in 3 years, like all the rest from our academy.

Man City are the only real elite academy in this country, everyone else just churns out players for the lower leagues.

I would love to be proven wrong, however.
Terry Downes
13 Posted 16/08/2026 at 09:19:37
Let’s be honest lads at Everton Moyes is like a tick on an elephants arse once he in you can’t get him out ?

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