Everton will surely feel smug about the number of top-drawer academy products they’ve managed to uncover.
The likes of Anthony Gordon and John Stones have the blue half of Merseyside to thank for kickstarting their Premier League careers, before Newcastle United and Manchester City beckoned, while Everton undoubtedly got more out of Dominic Calvert-Lewin than what was expected, after once picking him up as an 18-year-old prospect from Sheffield United.
71 goals would come Calvert-Lewin’s way across 273 games, but even he will know his rise to Toffees first-team glory pales into insignificance when weighed up next to Wayne Rooney’s remarkable ascent from teenage prodigy at Goodison Park to world-beater with Manchester United.
David Moyes was the boss who first gave Rooney a chance in the Everton senior mix at just 16 years of age, as the Scotsman now goes about assessing what promising youngsters he currently has at his disposal at the Hill Dickinson Stadium who could also go on to have an extensive career at the very top.
Everton's most promising youngsters right now
Many of the Everton U21s personnel right now will surely be dreaming of their Rooney moment in the spotlight under the Glaswegian.
Omari Benjamin could well feel he’s deserving of a first-team opportunity very soon, especially if Beto continues to fluff his lines on Merseyside, with the former Arsenal youth player turned rising star at the Toffees boasting two goals this season in Premier League 2 action.
Up to 12 goals in total now for the U21s, it only feels like a matter of time before the 19-year-old hotshot is handed some men’s minutes.
Other names catching the eye include Justin Clarke, who also boasts two goals himself this season in the Premier League 2, alongside 18-year-old Joel Catesby, who is more of a creative force than a goalscoring menace, having accumulated seven assists to date in both the U18 and U21 picture.
Moyes will have to err on the side of caution with some of these promising starlets, however, with the gap between youth football and the pressures of the Premier League a notoriously hard one to bridge.
That’s why the youth-focused boss will be over the moon with how well this other exciting youngster is doing out on loan away from Everton, as the Toffees potentially now have their best prospect since Rooney burst onto the scene.
Everton's biggest prospect since Rooney
The once wide-eyed number 18 would never look back after being slotted into the first team at just 16, with 17 goals and four assists tallied up for the Toffees during his first stint on the Merseyside, ending up being just the start of his unbelievable tale in the Premier League.
Harrison Armstrong will hope his current loan spell with Preston North End is a similarly memorable first chapter he can look back on in a few years time after he’s exploded in the Everton first-team set-up, with one Preston-based content creator already tipping him to have a “huge future” beyond Deepdale.
Armstrong has even picked up a Man of the Match accolade out on loan in Lancashire, too, with seven duels won across the course of his bruising 90 minutes, the sort of grit Preston needed to complete a 3-2 comeback win over Sheffield United on Friday night.
With three assists also next to his name in the Everton first-team picture, it’s clear that there’s a plausible pathway to the senior side for Armstrong under Moyes when this formative stint is complete, having also been previously dubbed a “first team regular in the making” at Everton by journalist Richard Buxton.
Everton U18s
22
5 + 1
Derby County
15
1 + 0
Everton U21s
15
3 + 1
Everton
8
0 + 3
Preston
8
0
The bold claims don’t stop here, either, with another Preston-oriented voice also wildly stating that he “will play for England one day” long after his Championship journey is up.
After all, the likes of Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins must still be eternally grateful for their respective EFL educations, before they then went on to receive a Three Lions cap.
Everything is pointing in the direction of Armstrong being Everton’s brightest prospect since Rooney’s whirlwind moment, with it now being up to the 18-year-old to succeed with all this hype weighing down on him.
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