Everton duo in England U21s friendly win

, 11 June, 25comments  |  Jump to most recent
John Stones made a winning return to his old stomping ground at Barnsley as he and Blues teammate Luke Garbutt helped England Under-21s to a 1-0 win over Belarus.

Stones turned out at Oakwell for the first time since leaving the Tykes to join Everton in January 2013 and played the first half before being replaced by Callum Chambers for the second 45 minutes.

Garbutt, meanwhile, assisted in the only goal, his fierce free kick being parried into the path of Ben Gibson and the Middlesbrough man converted the rebound.

This was England's last warm-up game before their U21 European Championship finals campaign kicks off against Portugal next week.  



Reader Comments (25)

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Ant Dwyer
1 Posted 11/06/2015 at 23:16:46
Luke Garbutt named Man of the Match!
Tony Doran
2 Posted 11/06/2015 at 23:18:39
Garbutt got MotM, looks like he’s a gonna. Quality player... what’s going on at Everton?
Colin Glassar
3 Posted 11/06/2015 at 23:48:08
Sounds like Garbutt had a blinder and was named MotM. Stonesy was ice cool as well.
Harold Matthews
4 Posted 12/06/2015 at 06:21:35
Pleased to hear the lads did well. I believe Portugal are coming up next, a real tester for Garbutt. They gave him a very hard time in the last meeting.
Colin Glassar
5 Posted 12/06/2015 at 07:24:22
When does it start and will it be on the telly? I always enjoy this competition as one or two players usually stand out only to disappear later on. They are usually Dutch for some strange reason.
Sam Hoare
6 Posted 12/06/2015 at 09:08:49
I remember a few years back a young Swedish striker called Marcus Berg banging them in during this tournament. I was filling TW with rants about how this guy was gonna be a superstar and a snip at the £8m reported asking price. He looked the complete striker.

Some German team bought him and I’ve never heard of him since. He now plays in Greece.

Ian McDowell
7 Posted 12/06/2015 at 09:48:02
Hopefully we can keep Garbutt. He had an exceptional game albeit v poor opposition.
Liam Reilly
8 Posted 12/06/2015 at 10:12:06
Colin #8

That’s right – didn’t a young Royston Drenthe announce himself on this stage?

The club really needs to tie Garbutt down... worst case, sell him on at the end of next season and recoup the wages incurred, but the lad has to accept his order in the queue.

Jim Knightley
9 Posted 12/06/2015 at 11:34:18
Berg did announce himself – I remember because I had a top scorer bet on him! He was older and playing at a senior level though, so I think he had just developed to his potential playing at a level higher than everyone else. Rigters also stared, and went to Blackburn as a result, but never had any career to speak of.

When I saw Drenthe, I was sure he was going to be the next big thing around – he was so dangerous and skillful, and I hoped Everton would sign him. Of course, we did... but his attitude destroyed his career by then.

This tournament is a fantastic means to gauge talent though, irrespective of some real flops. Isco and Morata were brilliant last time out, and their ability was obvious. Insigne struck me as a really talented and lively player, and Thiago, Wijnaldum and Martinez all really impressed.

Of those mentioned and those I can remember, only Martinez and Wijnaldum are not at really big clubs. I think both will be, and I think these are the calibre of young players we need to progress the club. Personally I see Martinez going to a Champions League team, but I’d like to see us go after Wijnaldum.

In my opinion, our future development plan should be built around getting top cheaper talent from Holland and Germany. I think the players in general are undervalued, and I think that the Europeanisation of English football has made the transition much easier for foreign players.

Sidney Sam will be available for next to nothing, and is a cut above our other attacking midfielders except for Mirallas in my opinion. Wijnaldum could grow into a £25-30M player, and Firmino is a fantastic creative player (albeit probably on the move to a Champions League club). We need to stay away from the high domestic fees, and the ex-Wigan ’stars’, and be a little more clever.

Ray Roche
10 Posted 12/06/2015 at 12:08:23
True, Jim, we clearly haven’t got sufficient cash to be buying top, ready made players so we should be trying to get the likes of Cahill, Arteta, Coleman. Pienaar etc., but I don’t have a great deal of confidence in Martinez to deliver the goods as effectively as our former manager.

The Garbutt fiasco is as unbelievable as it is amateurish. Posters were queueing up on here to claim that Garbutt wasn’t the finished article and that he’d be at best, third choice full back. I wager that in a couple of years time he’ll be vying for the England left back position and worth serious money. He may not be as good as Baines right now but I’d prefer him to Oviedo personally and he should have had more game time, possibly wide left, something I’ve been saying for ages, to fill the gap left by Pienaar.

Andrew Ellams
11 Posted 12/06/2015 at 12:32:43
Ray, to be fair, if Garbutt doesn’t want to sign, what does the club do. We don’t know what goes on in those meetings.
Ray Roche
12 Posted 12/06/2015 at 13:40:11
True, Andrew, but I imagine he’d have signed a decent offer a year or two back when he was getting very good notices. Is it only me then that thinks that the club has an amateurish outlook?
Andrew Ellams
13 Posted 12/06/2015 at 13:54:33
I guess if the club really expected Garbutt to make the breakthrough this year then maybe they should have offered him something a year ago to at least tie him down until he cemented himself.
Matt Muzi
14 Posted 12/06/2015 at 14:00:29
We should've tied him down at the latest last summer, the club knew well before then how good he was and his potential.
Anyone know what's going on with Henen? I see he has gone back to Greece earlier this week.
Steve King
15 Posted 12/06/2015 at 14:41:39
I had a particular stripper that I used to go back to time and again cause she was ace. But as she got older and neared retirement there was a new girl at the club that looked like she could fill her boots well. She had loads of potential but hadn’t quite mastered the art yet. I liked her......however when I realised she was asking for similar money to some of the much more experienced and proven girls I decided to shop around elsewhere.....
Ray Roche
16 Posted 12/06/2015 at 14:53:03
You grubby little man.
Andrew Ellams
17 Posted 12/06/2015 at 15:01:55
Steve, a stripper nearing retirement throws up some fairly grim images...
Harold Matthews
18 Posted 12/06/2015 at 14:55:29
Nice one Steve. Best post I’ve read all week. Took my mind to a happier universe. Thanks.
Eugene Ruane
19 Posted 12/06/2015 at 15:44:22
Andrew (17) - ’Steve, a stripper nearing retirement throws up some fairly grim images’

Well maybe to you, but it is certainly a... erm... subjective area.

For instance I happen to believe the most desirable attribute any member of the opposite sex can possess, is not looks or personality but rather the whiff of... availability. Is there a chance?

I never got worked up about Sharon Stone or Claudia thingy coz I knew there was 100% no chance I’d ever even get to wave at them.

But what about that slightly skittish and damaged looking 40-year-old one who works in Greggs – the one wearing the far too tight jeans, loads of mascara and using a lot of clumsy innuendo?

Very sexy!

(All that ’forbidden fruit’ stuff is bollocks – if you can’t have something, you can’t have it, end of story.)

As I suggest, all to do with how you (fnaar!) look at it.

Harold Matthews
20 Posted 12/06/2015 at 17:06:13
Great stuff Eugene and very true. These days I have to talk in the past tense but availability was always the big one.
Michael Kenrick
Editorial Team
21 Posted 12/06/2015 at 17:14:19
Err... thank you for that, Eugene.

TMI.

And off-topic.

James Flynn
22 Posted 12/06/2015 at 15:18:55
Well, at least Steve King is honest. In the end, professional sport IS flesh-pedaling.

Left out of his analogy is stripper-the-first, in her prime, simply disappeared from his strip club due the landmark Exotic Dancer Bosman ruling; remember her, Wayina Cooney? She’s now plying her trade just up the road for much more money, doing the exact same thing.

Mind, contrary to old Steve’s opinion based on a life-long experience at hanging out in strip-clubs (sad that), stripper-the-second wasn’t asking for top wages. She knew well she hadn’t earned them yet. Just wanted the occasional bookings in the VIP section to prove her worth.

With that, she knew well, due to seeing them in practice and knowing they were working through injuries, that the two favorites in front of her had real and recent difficulty working the pole.

She’d stay. Working at the club for several years, been treated well generally (as well as flesh to be pedaled could expect). Other clubs have interest in her, however.

Like any working person, the choice is between the Steve King’s of the world or another like him who will pay more to do the same thing. What’s a person to do? Either way, a piece of meat with a short shelf-life. Get the money. That’s it, get the money.

For consideration, she has a feeling that the injuries to the two favorites favored before her will result in more time on the pole for her. If only the club would boost her wages up to whatever other clubs are offering; more time in the VIP section. She can't cut it, she goes, right?

It's the way of thing in the flesh-pedaling business. She understands that. Who can get mad at her for trying to make the most of it while she can?

Eugene Ruane
23 Posted 12/06/2015 at 18:14:34
James - Link
Phil Walling
24 Posted 12/06/2015 at 18:28:21
Bloody hell, the nearest I ever got to ’exotic’ was a quick grope in the Pink Parrot and a fumble at a ’Grab a Grannie Granny’ night of a Monday at the Locarno!
Colin Glassar
25 Posted 12/06/2015 at 18:54:51
Liam, De Ridder and that lad that went to the Redshite (lightening fast but with two left feet), can’t remember his name but he was shite and left after a season or two.

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