Looking to the Future

20 April 2004

Leon Osman: Derby fans love him but, with his loan spell ending, will David Moyes give him the chance to prove his worth?

While Everton may not be mathematically safe from relegation, recent form and the consequent seven-point cushion we have between ourselves and Leeds in 18th place mean that we can confidently look onward and upward instead of over our shoulders.

With the club's financial situation as tight as ever, the focus must be on collecting as many points and gaining as many places as we can in the final four games of the season.  However, the first half against Tottenham aside, the sense of urgency that comes from knowing that the difference between every position in the Premiership is worth £650,000 has been surprisingly absent.

We at ToffeeWeb often get accused of dwelling on the negative but the fact of the matter is that we tell it like it is.  One defeat from the last nine is a superb run of results for a team that found itself in the bottom three at the end of November and has been haunted by the sprectre of relegation since, but that ruthless 45-minute destruction of Spurs only served to highlight just what David Moyes's team are really capable of.

And, of course, it raises the tired old question of why they can't turn on that sort of performance week-in, week-out — or, at the very least, a bit more often.  Just where would we be if we did play to that level in every game?  Dare we suggest somewhere in the top six and challenging for Europe, just like last season?

It is interesting to note that the impressive sequence of results since we were humiliated at Birmingham coincided with the return to form and goals of Wayne Rooney, whose five goals in the last nine matches has elevated him to the top of the Blues' list of goalscorers for the season.  As Moyes has already said publicly this week, he is without question the future of Everton Football Club and part of the foundation on which the manager hopes to build a successful team capable of challenging for the major honours in the foreseeable future.

The focus on youth — which formed so much of Moyes's rhetoric when he first joined the club but seems to have diminished slightly since — must be the guiding force behind how Everton approach the crucial couple of years that lie ahead.  With some ageing big earners set to be offloaded from the wage bill in the next 15 months, there is an enticing opportunity to lay a youthful foundation for the medium-term future.

James McFadden is a good example of this.  While he may have found the transition to the Premiership a little more difficult than either he or most others might have predicted, there is little question that he has a very promising career ahead of him.  Two goals for Scotland, a team that has struggled to find a consistent goalscorer, during his time at Goodison illustrate that he can be successful at the highest level.

And the way in which he tormented the Spurs defence in that now-famous Good Friday encounter under the floodlights at Goodison should have dispelled the growing doubts among a section of the supporters who are less forgiving and less patient than the rest of us that he was waste of money.  Still only 21, McFadden has talent and time on his side and I confidently predict he will more than repay the £1.5M we paid Motherwell for his services.

A more telling barometer of Moyes's intentions will be what he decides to do about Leon Osman, a player whom we have been following for the past three or four years as he has progressed through the youth ranks with rave reviews.  Last season he was the driving force behind Everton's reserves, scoring a hatful of goals from midfield; he seemed to have done everything to merit a run in the first team, particularly towards the end of the campaign when it was clear that the Blues' midfield had ceased functioning.

Similarly, in the early part of this season when the fans were crying out for some sort of inspiration and creativity in the middle of the park and everyone had decided that no one could be worse than the existing incumbents, the time seemed right to give Osman the opportunity to prove his worth in the first team.

While Moyes's handling of Rooney has, in the main, been laudable, you could argue that he has got it wrong with Osman.  Having effectively promised to give the 22-year-old his first senior start in the Carling Cup tie at Middlesbrough in December, the manager left him on the substitute's bench until extra time, leaving him little time to make much impact.  Unfortunately, his role was crucial for all the wrong reasons; no doubt wanting to prove that he can live with the big boys, Osman stepped forward in the penalty shoot-out and ended up missing the decisive spot kick.

Instead of being given the chance to make amends immediately by being selected in the team for the next league game, Leon was frozen out and hasn't donned a Blue jersey since.  He was farmed out to Derby County on loan in February, the three-month term of which comes to an end this month, leaving Moyes with a decision to make on his future.

Just as he was for the Everton Reserves last season, Osman has been in stellar form for the Rams in the Nationwide League First Division — so much so that Derby fans are praying for him to stay.

Now, given our financial realities, the Nationwide is one of Moyes's chief scouting grounds and, naturally, the best-performing players in that league (particularly Division One) will show up on the manager's radar.  So, here we are with a First Division player earning rave reviews and we wouldn't need to spend a penny to get him!

The problem is that Moyes, presumably on the basis of what he has seen at Bellefield, has not so far been convinced that Osman has what it takes to succeed at Premiership level, reputedly because of his diminutive stature and lack of physical presence.  Granted, these are valid concerns, but it would be criminal to allow the player to leave without first having given him a run in the first team to prove once and for all that he is not what we are looking for.

The focus here has been on our promising midfield players because that really is where the biggest hole has been for years now, but there is also a pressing need for a solid, dynamic centre back to partner the impressive Joseph Yobo.  Peter Clarke is unlikely to make the grade (unlike Osman, he has been given a couple of opportunities so that he can be assessed).  The onus will therefore be on the management to find someone like Yobo who can form a lasting partnership with the Nigerian that will eliminate out reliance on pedestrian war-horses like Alan Stubbs and David Unsworth.

All in all, the forthcoming close season will give us a clearer idea of how David Moyes wants to re-build his squad and if his initial desire to found his proposed new era on young talent is still there.  Ideally, he will start by giving Leon Osman enough playing time in the first team in the final four games to prove that he can make the grade or if his transfer fee to Derby is if more value.

We have had precious few alumni from the youth academy make it in recent years so it's important that we fully assess each candidate who shows the amount of potential that Osman has as we seek to build for a successful future. With money as tight as it is — and with no sign of that situation improving any time soon — homegrown talent could be our greatest asset.

Lyndon Lloyd

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