It all could have been so different for Tom Davies at Everton.
Making his debut for the club as a 17-year-old, the Liverpool-born midfielder had impressed throughout his youth career, graduating to the first team in 2016.
A man of the match performance in a 3-0 win over Norwich City on the final day of the 2015/16 season provided Evertonians with a glimpse of what was potentially to come from the teenager, but it was a goal in a 4-0 victory against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in January 2017 that really got fans excited, his deft chip over Claudio Bravo sending Goodison Park into raptures.
That goal could have been a ‘remember the name’ moment for Davies, but the former England U21 player’s career has subsequently stalled, leaving the once promising midfielder in limbo. Despite becoming the youngest captain in the club’s history in 2018 in a 3-1 EFL Cup win over Rotherham, Davies has struggled to cement a place in Everton’s starting XI, and now finds himself relatively low in Frank Lampard’s midfield pecking order.
Sustaining a knee injury during Everton’s mid-season tour of Australia, Davies could face up to a month on the side-lines, and as he enters the last 6 months of his current contract, former Spurs right-back Alan Hutton believes the club will offer the 24-year-old a short-term deal.
He said, “He’s been loyal to the club and come through the ranks.
“He’s had to bide his time to get into the side – but I like him as a player.
“There’s nothing worse as a footballer when you’re running out of contract and get an injury in a nothing game which leaves you out for months.
“I would expect that Everton would do the right thing, and just give him at least another year.
“It would be a shame to have his time at the club come to an end like this.”
Few would argue that Davies has struggled to live up to the initial hype that surrounded him back in 2016, but could the academy graduate still have a role to play at his boyhood club