Bassala Sambou 44

The 18-year-old striker joined the Toffees on a 3-year deal from Coventry City and arrived on Merseyside with an already impressive reputation after some scintillating performances for the Sky Blues youth sides.

Sambou scored 21 goals for Coventry's Under-18s side and another 4 for the Under-21s, and chose to make the step up the divisions with his contract at the Ricoh Arena due to expire at the end of the June 2016.

David Unsworth told the club's website: "I tracked his progress over the whole of last season and he'll be a quality player to take into the Under-21s group and he's a really exciting prospect for the future. We're pleased to be able to take him here as I believe he'll be a Premier League player in the future."

The 18-year old joined the Sky Blues as an Under-15 and spent two years in the City Academy before signing his Scholarship deal in June 2014. Sambou also made his senior debut under Tony Mowbray in the FA Cup first round against Northampton. 

The striker impressed with 25 goals at youth level in his final season at Coventry, whilst representing the club's Under-18s and Under-21s sides and was particularly prolific during City's memorable FA Youth Cup run. Sambou scored eight times during the 2015-16 FA Youth Cup competition, including a crucial 90th minute equaliser against Arsenal. 

Coventry City FC Technical Director Mark Venus admits the club were reluctant for Sambou to leave:

“We will be sad to see Bassala leave the club after his time with the City Academy, but want to wish him success for the future. 

“It was with great reluctance that we accepted terms for Bassala to leave and the greatest efforts were made to keep him as a Coventry City player. 

“The club understands that the opportunity presented to Bassala would have been hard to turn down and respect his decision to move on. We have worked hard alongside Everton FC to agree terms that give Sambou's footballing career the best chance of developing successfully. 

“Coventry City FC would like to thank Everton FC for their professional conduct during negotiations and we wish Bassala all the best in Merseyside.” 

Everton were able to poach Sambou on a free transfer due to the expiration of his deal, and Coventry were seemingly long braced for his departure, the player having been offered a new contract in the February before he left.

Earlier in 2016, manager Tony Mowbray expressed his frustration that Sambou had decided to leave the club so early in his development rather than stay and mature at the League One club. It remains to be seen how Sambou will fare at Everton, but given the club's recent record of placing faith in young talent, he may well be optimistic of getting an opportunity in the coming seasons.

In his fist season with Everton, he would play a part in David Unsworth's Under-23s campaign, scoring 5 goals as they went on to win the Premier League 2 trophy. And he became Unsworth's most valuable player in his second season, leading the Under-23s stats in terms of both appearances and goals, although a return of only 5 goals in all competitions was somewhat less than expected as Everton failed to repeat the triumph of the previous season.

But Sambou got more into the swing of things in his 3rd season under David Unsworth, coming in as leading scorer for the Under-23s across all competitions as they swept to an impressive double, winning the Premier League 2 and Premier League Cup trophies in the same successful 2018-19 season.

Despite his goalscoring prowess at U23 level, the path for Sambou to make his step up to the first team never came and, with his contract set to expire at the end of June 2019, he rejected the offer of a contract extension with the Blues, seemingly convinced that a move to Germany or Holland would better suit his career objectives.

FactFile