Everton new squad number hint spotted as teenage starlets join pre-season training

Everton new squad number hint spotted as teenage starlets join pre-season training

The Blues are undertaking a first week of training away from Finch Farm

Youssef Chermiti and Nathan Patterson during Everton's training camp in Scotland. Photo by Emma Simpson/Everton FC

David Moyes has taken his Everton squad up to Scotland for a pre-season training camp. It is the second getaway he has taken the players on since his return to the club in January, the squad having travelled out to the UAE for a much needed warm weather escape at the end of February.

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It comes with most of the first team having checked in for testing on what was the first day back at Finch Farm on Friday.

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With the start of the summer games schedule just a week away - the Blues travel to League Two side Accrington Stanley next Tuesday - here are a few points of note, so far, from the trip up north.

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The size of the first team group

It will come as no surprise to anyone that the Blues have needed to take some of the leading lights from the academy to help fill out the squad. As it stands, Moyes does not have enough senior players to make up a 20-man Premier League matchday squad without dipping into the academy - even if you include Harry Tyrer and starlet Harrison Armstrong.

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With some of those involved in international duty at the end of the campaign having been given a later return date, the group is not at full size. But if you want an idea of how much work is still required this summer, the list of players at the camp will give you an idea.

The fresh-faced goalkeepers union

There are several notable youngsters on the trip, including centre back Reece Welch, who was in the matchday squad when Everton defeated Newcastle United up in the North East on the final day of last season.

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It is the goalkeepers who stand out, however. Tyrer is there, the 23-year-old currently set to start pre-season as Jordan Pickford’s back-up. His promotion, for now at least, follows two good loan spells in the football pyramid. He helped Chesterfield win promotion from the National League before cementing himself as first choice at League One side Blackpool last term.

With Billy Crellin and Zan-Luk Leban having left the club this summer - as well as first team deputies Asmir Begovic and Joao Virginia - there are some even younger faces alongside Tyrer.

George Pickford put in some impressive performances as he donned the gloves for Everton Under-21s for most of last season. He is out there with England youth international Douglass Lukjanciks. The 17-year-old is highly-rated and will earn some useful experience on the senior camp.

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Seamus Coleman leading the players on a light run

There is a nice photo among the gallery of club images that shows club captain Seamus Coleman and assistant manager Leighton Baines leading a group of players on a run along the beach.

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Aside from it bringing back memories of the pair operating together on opposite sides of the defence, it also suggest Coleman is over the injury that ended his farewell to Goodison Park after just 20 minutes of the final home game against Southampton in May.

A new squad number?

When Vitalii Mykolenko wheeled away in celebration after drawing Everton level at Fulham in May, he did so in his number 19 shirt. On training images released by the club from the summer excursion, the left-back is wearing kit that is adorned with the number 16.

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The pictures suggest he has adopted the number he wears on international duty now that Abdoulaye Doucoure has left the shirt vacant. Interestingly, other players appear to be wearing the numbers they played in last season - suggesting that, so far, Michael Keane has retained the number 5 and that Beto has not taken up the number 9.

A chance to impress for some players with big summers ahead

Harrison Armstrong, Youssef Chermiti and Nathan Patterson are all part of the work in Scotland at the start of a big summer for each of the players. Armstrong is viewed as a major talent but, at just 18, it remains to be seen whether Moyes will keep him around the first team or send him out for another loan after his initial success with Derby County in the second half of last season.

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Chermiti spent much of last season injured, a tough break after he started the summer of last year so well. It means, two years into his Everton career, he is still yet to have received much exposure to the first team. With Dominic Calvert-Lewin having left there is an opportunity over the coming weeks for him to push himself into Moyes’ thinking, even if Everton’s move for Thierno Barry comes off. Otherwise, it may be decided a loan is best for the young forward.

Patterson finds himself in a similar position. Injury has curtailed his chances at Everton to date and Moyes’ selection decisions last season suggested the Scotland international was on the back foot in the fight to win the right back spot.

Everton are looking for a first choice in that position but a move for Fulham’s Kenny Tete fell through, potentially giving Patterson a window of opportunity to impress Moyes.

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