Adam Forshaw

Adam Forshaw was with the Everton Academy since he was 8 years old.  He progressed up through the levels and since 2008 had been playing regularly for the Under18s and subsequently the Reserves.

His big moment came in that meaningless Europa League match against BATE Borisov back in 2009, when David Moyes gave lots of the kids a taste of the big time under the Goodison Park lights in a senior match. 

Forshaw played in midfield but did not greatly catch the eye. He showed a couple of nice touches and tried to put in some crosses but didn't really make a name for himself. After a couple of spells on the subs bench for some games around the New Year (2010), he disappeared back into the Reserves.

Adam was not subsequently seen since anywhere near the front stage for a long time (15 months) and could have been high on the list of potential Academy releases... but most of the young talent was being stockpiled for the new rule change regarding homegrown talent... although, his shirt number, 29, was given to new Portuguese striker João Silva for the 2010-11 season!

But, with a new squad number, Adam Forshaw did eventually get on the bench, against Aston Villa in April 2011, forced by a crippling injury crisis, after playing in a fair number of Reserves games during the season. And the following week, at Wolves, he was given his league debut, coming on for 10 minutes at the end, with the game wrapped up.  He was also on the bench for the last game of the season, the memorable win over Chelsea.

A new season beckoned in August 2011, and eventually a new shirt number... however, it was not until February 2012 when Adam made a couple more token appearances on the Everton bench — but not on the field of play.  Opportunities for advancement under Moyes's scheme of isolated immersion for promising Academy players then usually involved a spell away from the club on loan, and that happened for Forshaw, who joined Brentford for a month on loan, alongside fellow Blue, Jake Bidwell.

It was not long after the end of the 2011-12 season that youngster Adam Forshaw signed for Brentford on a two-year deal after having spent much of the season on loan at Griffin Park. In September 2014 he joined Wigan Athletic for £3M before he left them to join Middlesbrough for £2M in January 2015, returning to Goodison Park with the newly promoted side in September 2016.