This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Anthony Gordon has spoken out about his first-team chances and what it has been like to train with the senior squad.
What did he say?
The 18-year-old has been making a lot of noise down in the youth ranks and fans have regularly been calling for his name on the teamsheet. Gordon made a first-team appearance back when he was 16 in the 2017-18 Europa League campaign.
However, he got just two minutes under his belt against Apollon Limassol that night and has not made another senior appearance since.
The promising youngster told the Liverpool Echo: “Everything has changed since then. I’ve matured a lot, both as a player and as a person and hopefully everyone can recognise that.”
When asked if he chats with Marco Silva on his first-team chances, Gordon replied: “He doesn’t really speak about it.
“He’ll give me things to work on and tell me when I’m doing right or wrong. He just wants me to progress and keep getting better at the things he thinks I should be getting better at and it’s all I want as well and I know my time will come if I keep doing that.”
For his debut, the attacker replaced Kevin Mirallas in late 2017 over in Cyprus.
“It was amazing for me to be around all the players at such a young age.
“I hadn’t trained with them or anything before that, it was literally straight in and so to be training out there with Morgan Schneiderlin, Kevin Mirallas and [Ademola] Lookman was unbelievable and I was just trying to soak it up and learn as much as I could because that’s where I wanted to be.”
Silva needs him
The academy star has scored six times in 10 games this season and provided three assists along the way.
Compare this to the fact that Everton have just 11 goals in the league so far and there is certainly a suggestion to be made that Gordon may deserve a chance in the first team.
Up next for the Toffees is the must-win clashes against Southampton and Norwich City. Silva simply cannot afford to lose these, and perhaps Gordon could help change that.
The injuries to Bernard and Andre Gomes are going to change things for the Blues and now would be a better time than ever for the youngster to step up.
After all, Silva must change something to transform the club’s fortunes.
