Everton revealed on Monday that Mason Holgate has signed a new five-year deal with the club to keep the centre-back at Goodison Park until 2025. He is one of just three English Everton players who are 23 or under to have featured regularly in the Premier League this season and holding onto the defender represents a change from Everton’s recent recruitment policy.
The only academy graduate from Finch Farm currently in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad is Tom Davies; however, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Holgate are players who began their youth careers elsewhere but were attracted to Merseyside at an early age. The majority of the rest of Everton’s squad is composed of recent imports from other Premier League sides, such as Richarlison, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Morgan Schneiderlin, and ensuring they have a young English contingent could be the key to ending their 25-year trophy drought. Furthermore, it is an obvious way to keep the club connected with its fanbase.
The 1995 FA Cup triumph was the last time Everton fans tasted silverware success, but upon signing the new deal, Holgate said: “I want to win things – and winning silverware is where I see us”. Upon their last trophy success, the Toffees had a strong Merseyside presence in their squad with six graduates of their academy, and by keeping Holgate amidst reported interest from Manchester City, they could be successful again by reverting to type.
In the recent past players such as Wayne Rooney, Ross Barkley and Jack Rodwell have been allowed to leave Goodison Park for greener pastures after emerging in the Blue half of Liverpool. Holding onto Holgate represents a change from that, and while it is partly due to the fact they no longer require the financial support from player sales, retaining a core of young English players and mirroring the past could be focal to bringing about future success.
So far it has worked well for Ancelotti, as the Italian has included at least one of Holgate, Davies and Calvert-Lewin in every Premier League side he has selected since arriving in December. In the ten top-flight matches since he arrived at Goodison Park, only Manchester City and Liverpool have accumulated more points than Everton’s 18, which indicates the young English trio could be the key to ending their 25-year trophy drought.
