Ellis Simms may not have made many appearances in David Unsworth’s U23s this season, but the 18-year-old hitman has been tipped for a shock first-team role on the Grand Old Team forum.
The idea of Marco Silva marshalling the teenage forward into the senior squad has caused quite a stir on the Toffees forum, with fans visibly split over the proposal.
The suggestion of rushing Simms into the first-team comes just days after Gareth Southgate ushered Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho and Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi into the senior England set-up at 19 and 18-years-old respectively, even though the Pensioner’s winger has still not started a Premier League game.
Simms, though, has been in prolific form for our U18s this term, with 20 goals in 15 U18 Premier League outings, along with five in four FA Youth Cup games.
The Premier League 2 has not been as kind to the Oldham-born attacker, however, with his three outings under Unsworth all ending without a goal.
With Dominic Calvert-Lewin also starting to find his feet as Silva’s lead man, suddenly dropping Simms into the senior fold could cause problems for the teenager if he cannot hit the ground running.
Here’s what is being said on the Grand Old Team forum…
“Okay Under 18s – but!!!!!!!!!!! The lad must have something our strikers have not.” – Toffeelover (March 26, 08:27)
“Here we go…” – Kenshin (March 26, 08:29)
“I haven’t seen much, but he looks an absolute unit… needs a solid return for the Under 23’s before he catches my eye completely but he’s worth looking at.” – LiamLiverpool86 (March 26, 08:30)
“Let’s not jump the gun here” – Lelouch (March 26, 08:33)
“Of course, just pointing out that we do appear to have some good young players. BTW did Southgate jump the gun playing two 18-year-olds in the international?” – Toffeelover (March 26, 08:35)
“No. But we are unique in the fact that if a player doesn’t score a hat trick on his third league start, we consign him to the bin. See Tom Davies and Dominic Calvert-Lewin for reference.” – SteStocksDJ (March 26, 08:37)
“Potentially one of the best we have had come through for quite a while. Time will tell, but hopefully within the next year he will be on the verge of the 1st team squad.” – bitter-no-better (March 26, 09:02)
“I can’t wait for this lad to come into the first team so we can destroy his confidence.” – Tez (March 26, 09:07)
“If he’s not in contention now with that record, then what’s the point of that team/league? 17-year-old Greenwood got a run out for Man Utd the other week vs Arsenal.” – GrandOldTeam (March 26, 09:08)
“Comparing Sancho and Hudson Odoi to Ellis Simms is a bit different… I just don’t think we need to rush it and shove him in the first team because he’s banging them in the U18s, He needs to step up to U23s before he should be considered imo.” – Lelouch (March 26, 09:24)
“Well, we did it with Rooney.” – BluLouie (March 26, 09:33)
“Think we should give him a six-year £120k a week contract immediately tbh.” – BlueIsTheColour (March 26, 10:06)