Braiden Graham

[MmmBlueBranthwaite]

For me, he's the most exciting prospect in the Academy, and likely to be the next one to break through. His finishing is top class and comfortable with both feet.

I can seem him regularly featuring from the bench going forwards.

Do we continue to develop him in-house (PL/PL2) or loan out to a decent championship/L1 side were he may get more regular game time?

[Cantoffee]

Loan 100%.

We need as many of our academy players getting real professional minutes as possible.

Even if they only turn out to be serviceable championship players we can get some return on them.

I dont believe that players develop much at a certain point playing academy football or minutes here and there.

[StirlingBlue]

He can play on the wing as well as a Striker can't he?

I don't see Moyes giving minutes to a lad of his size as our striker but given our limited wing options I think he'll be kept around unless we sign some more wide options.

[Lazarou II]

Unless he is 28 years old he wont get a game.

Hopefully a decent loan with plenty of minutes in the legs will be found for this coming season.

[sam of the south]

Snodin thinks he’s going to be a number 10, but it’s Snods so probably bollocks

[Shogun]

A talent and a clear goalscorer. If he's still involved at pre-season at this point and getting on the pitch under a manager like Moyes then he's probably ready for a loan to the championship.

Might never end up being better than someone like Tom Cannon but doesn't seem like he'd get much from scoring tonnes more goals in the U21s.

[bigmanbob]

Unless he is 28 years old he wont get a game.

So none of our central midfielders will be playing this season?

[Kerryblueboy]

Talented lad but very slight needs a good loan somewhere probably league 1

[Lazarou II]

So none of our central midfielders will be playing this season?

Just being an arse.

[MmmBlueBranthwaite]

Just being an arse.

It’s a fair cop guv.

[blueforyou]

I'm with Snodgrass

[Gash]

Needs to go out on loan and get booted around for 30-40 games by some big lumbering centre backs and see how he gets on. The U21's probably isn't even League 2 level never mind the PL. There's still more chance he'll have a solid EFL career rather than make it in the PL.

[kramer]

There's still more chance he'll have a solid EFL career rather than make it in the PL.

This is true of everyone coming through the U21s and hopefully something that the new team overseeing the academy and youth development understands.

There’s still decent money to be made selling those not-quite-good-enough players to the Championship or League One. We’ve done better on this front recently but I think we can do more to get players to a level where they can fetch a decent fee from the lower leagues.

It’s an important extra source of revenue that can potentially help us sign an extra PL quality player every year or two, which doesn’t sound like much until you factor in how restrictive financial rules can be.

Obviously, I’d like us to develop some Everton first teamers too but that usually requires a big prospect who is head and shoulders above the rest like Armstrong.

[brap2]

Just not happening

[Gary1878]

You have to develop the players to the max for the good of the club, either as a potential first team player or for resale.

To sell for £8-10m as we did with Simms and PSR Dobbins is great business. If you don’t develop talent properly, then you benefit less at the end of the process, however good they are.