At the end of this season the success of the Everton Academy will rightly be judged as much by what goes on away from Finch Farm as what actually happened with the players left available to Paul Tait and Keith Southern. The development loans of Harrison Armstrong, now established back in the first team squad, Isaac Heath, George Pickford, Martin Sherif, George Finney, Francis Okoronkwo, Will Tamen, Roman Dixon, Eli Campbell, Jack Patterson and George Morgan have seen an entire team head to the English and Scottish Football Leagues as well as Poland and France. That has left an enormous opportunity for 17 and 18 year olds to step up into the world of U21 football and, by and large, they have acquitted themselves really well.
Some like Braiden Graham, Demi Akarakiri and Malik Olayiwola have even been doing double-duty across the age ranges to assist the Youth team.
I’m not for one minute suggesting that the workload has taken its toll on some players but it is a fact that, with the exception of a narrow 2-1 victory over a team in the tenth tier of English football, the U21s have failed to win in their last 6 outings. They now sit 17th in Premier League 2 with the top 16 teams qualifying for a play-off competition which will prolong the season. If they don’t make the top 16 the summer vacation may come a little early. That would be disappointing all round given the good form at the start of 2026.
The Blues’ U21s were eliminated from the Premier League International Cup on Wednesday night, at the hands of German side Borussia Dortmund. They lined up as below:
Manager Paul Tait (pictured below) was not overly-disappointed as the performance did not match the result in his view:
Speaking after the game, head coach Paul Tait told evertonfc.com:
“The lads did great. You don’t always get what you deserve in football, and I think that was the case tonight. The amount of chances that we created, particularly second half, we could have scored at least three or four goals.”
A bonus for the Blues was the return to action for both Omari Benjamin (see the lead picture) and Jacob Beaumont-Clark after long lay-offs for both players. As 20-year olds, their “experience” has been sorely missed by the younger players.
For the record, goals by Reitz (a 57th minute penalty) and an added time 2nd by Kabar ensured the German side progressed.
The previous game to this saw a narrow 0-1 reverse to Reading U21s last week in a league game.
The Under 18s have been similarly feeling the pressure with a 1-4 loss to 4th placed Derby County at Finch Farm on Wednesday. Harry Brookes was the goalscorer for the Toffees who remain in 3rd place behind the high-flying Manchester clubs. His goal had brought the scores back to 1-3 after being 3 down at the interval but the Rams scored late to restore the 3 goal advantage.
Next up for the U18s is a home game on Saturday lunchtime with Newcastle United while, for the U21s, it’s a Sunday afternoon game away at Brighton.
