Everton have produced some fantastic footballers over the years and the Toffees have an incredibly underrated academy. Of course, Wayne Rooney is the standout player; he played 117 games for the club across two spells, sandwiched between a legendary career at Manchester United.
There are other notable academy graduates to come out of Goodison Park, too. Leon Osman spent his entire career at the club, aside from a brief loan spell at Derby County, and racked up 433 games. The likes of Richard Dunne and David Unsworth also played for the Toffees after graduating from the academy.
However, there is one other player who did not quite live up to the hype, and Toffees fans might well be disappointed with how his career ended up. That man is Ross Barkley.
Barkley’s Everton career
Born and bred on Merseyside, England international Barkley might well forever be a ‘what could’ve been’ player at Goodison Park. When he was at the club, he impressed but was inconsistent, and left in January 2018 for Stamford Bridge, joining Chelsea for £15m.
In total, the midfielder played 179 games for his boyhood club. Barkley managed 27 goals and 25 assists in that time, playing mainly as an attacking midfielder, with the ability to play deeper or even out wide.
His finest campaign in that famous Blue shirt was in 2015/16. The England international played all 38 games in the Premier League, scoring eight goals and assisting eight goals. One of his finest moments in that season was scoring two goals and assisting one in a 4-0 thrashing over Aston Villa at Goodison Park.
Sadly, the midfielder never actually played for the Toffees in the 2017/18 season. An injury kept him out until January before he made the move to West London. His final game for his boyhood club was a 3-1 defeat against Arsenal.
An article from The Athletic explained that Everton fans “wanted Barkley to succeed and become a legend” at the club. Sadly, it did not work out like that, and his departure in 2018 was a disappointing end to something that could have been so great.
In recent years there may be another player who fits into the same category as Barkley, who has now departed Goodison Park despite such a promising early career.
Everton's next Barkley never lived up to expectations
The player in question here is academy graduate Tom Davies. The midfielder now plies his trade at Sheffield United, but once had such a promising career ahead of him for his boyhood club.
The 26-year-old was once held in high regard by a legend of English football, fellow Scouse midfielder Steven Gerrard. The Liverpool legend might be from the Red side of the city, but he once described him as a “terrific footballer”, and the player to “be excited about at Everton”.
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Sadly, things did not quite go according to plan for the midfielder. He made plenty of appearances for Toffees, 179 to be specific, scoring seven goals and grabbing eight assists in that time. However, a lack of opportunity in the starting lineup, and he struggled to nail down a regular starting spot.
2015/16
2
97
2016/17
24
1543
2017/18
33
1091
2018/19
16
976
2019/20
30
2026
2020/21
25
1426
2021/22
6
233
2022/23
19
527
Davies was called “England’s next star” by Ryan Kelly of Goal back in 2017, but he never got selected for the national team whilst at Goodison Park. However, he did play for the Three Lions at age group level, up until the U21s, for whom he played 23 times.
He left his boyhood club to move to Sheffield United in 2023. Incredibly, the Blades paid nothing for him, meaning this once high-rated English talent ended up a free transfer. Sadly, it has not worked out at Bramall Lane, either. The midfielder has managed just nine appearances in 18 months at the club and is yet to feature this season.
Looking back on this, Toffees fans may well be disappointed things did not work out how it was suggested it might between Davies and his boyhood club. Like Barkley, he is another player who football fans might wonder what could have been.
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