Courtney Duffus 48

Courtney Duffus arrived at Everton alongside younger brother Tyrone from Cheltenham Town in the summer of 2012.

Duffus joined Bury in November 2014 on a 3-month loan deal that was originally due to run until January but returned to Finch Farm within a month. In total, Duffus made five appearances for the Shakers, three of which were from the substitutes bench.

Courtney Duffus had to undergo a knee operation and didn't get back into action until near the end of  2015.   The powerful 19-year-old suffered ligament damage in training less than a week after being named on the first-team bench for a Europa League game at BSC Young Boys, where the 19-year-old striker was moments away from making his first-team debut.

With the Blues cruising at 4-1 after 60 minutes, the scene was set for his emergence from the bench, only for the dismissal of another young Blue to force a rethink from the manager.

“The physio nudged me and said Lukaku had a tight hamstring so I was told to go and warm up,” Duffus recalled.  "Obviously you can imagine how I felt - I was buzzing thinking I was going to come on. But unfortunately John Stones got sent off about two minutes after that, so things changed.  I was just made up to be there to be honest. Hopefully I can pick up where I left off when I get back fit and be challenging to get in that first team again."

Courtney has described how the knee injury that sidelined him for eight months happened:  

"We were in training on the astroturf and I've rolled my foot over the ball, my foot's been planted in the astroturf and I suddenly felt a pop in my knee. I don't remember much after that to be honest – it was very painful though, I remember that!  

"The operation was an ACL reconstruction. They've taken a graft from my patella tendon and replaced the old ligament with that. The operation went really well and the surgeon was really happy with it.    This injury normally means six to nine months, but we're hoping it will be between six and seven because the operation went so well."

In July 2015, Courtney signed a new 2-year contract. Over the course of the following season, he graduated to become a regular with the Under-21s, getting his name on the score sheet with increasing frequency as the season drew to a close. Duffus then spent part of the 2015-16 campaign on loan at Evo-Stik League Northern Premier outfit Skelmersdale United, before signing fresh terms with the Toffees in the summer of 2016.

The new campaign saw him involved with the U23s but mainly off the bench, with very few starts, and 3 goals in 20 appearances by February 2017. Everton granted him a 1-year extension to his contract at the end of the season and he was expected to go out on loan again but ended up moving to Oldham Athletic for an undisclosed fee in July 2017.

FactFile