Dowell joins Sheffield United on loan

Providing he gets regular game time, he could improve dramatically and help Sheffield United towards promotion.

Silva gave him a chance to shine in the Cup games earlier this season and he looked a passenger and the manager obviously sees him in training regularly and feels he’s not ready.

Jim, he is a player I have always liked, but he rarely puts a ninety minute performance in, and regularly goes missing in action for long periods during a game.

Absolutely no doubting his ability. Maybe it's his languid style that masks his desire, but as most are aware, it's his stomach for the fight and the capacity to graft which appears wanting.

With the Blades well in an extremely competitive promotion race in the Championship, he will need to show good mettle and application alongside his skills to gain and retain a place in the side.

We've got some Sheffield-based Blues on TW I recall. Be interested to hear their views what the locals reckon to this and where he'll fit in.

I love this kid, along with Davies. Here’s hoping he improves and starts to push for regular inclusion in the first team.

Sheffield United will be thrilled with this move and this kid.

I'm all for our academy kids coming through but the minimum expectation for a young lad is effort.

Dowell would do well to look at all the flair players in and around the top teams in the prem, they all work very hard. Also if he looked at the effort Richalison and Siggy put in he will see what the minimum requirement is to get into a Marco Silva side.

I believe he has the ability, he just needs to show the willingness to do the graft !

If only we knew what the missing ingredient is. I actually think he is too anxious and trying too hard to impress, which is having the opposite effect. I know that sounds wrong as he seems laid back.

He has been an England international at every age and an U20 World Cup winner. I hope we can get a Premier League tune out of him and he doesn't disappear like Liam Walsh.

Good luck, Kieran.

Surely he'd been better on the continent or at another Premier League club.

What frustrates me is that most of the criticisms above are not always true, he just never seems to apply himself consistently.

Seen him loads in the successful U23s, 2- 4years ago.

I know some Notts Forest supporters who said he started Superb, but by the end was often jeered, as in the Championship, they expect blood, sweat, tears as the minimum then class.

Kev Sheedy, often lazy, but was a cunning, with an eye for a pass, shot and free kick, never bettered since, and was pure class with his unique vision and left foot, and appropriate sense of devilment.

Kieran is a different player and I hope he breaks through, and secures full-time footy, but I don't see that at Everton, being honest, unless he has a Jerusalem moment.

Liam Walsh for me was a better all-round footballer, than Kieran, but I've not tracked his progress since he went to Bristol City. By all accounts on TW, he's not in the mix, which is a shame.

If anyone knows how he's been playing or what has happened, it would be good to know.

Thank you.

Paul #14, sad to report Walsh has had little impact at Bristol City. After three months as an unused sub, he managed seven appearances in October/November with no goals or assists -- went the full 90 only once. And then the first weekend in December he slightly tore a knee ligament against Ipswich. Expected back in late January but whether there's a place for him is iffy.

As for Lukaku (and yes, I know that Stones and Lukaku were not schoolboys with us), well he's just disappeared up his own egotistical arse at Man Utd, hasn't he?

Is Dowell the same? Promising except for basic nowse?

Rooney aside, can anyone identify one single "Everton academy" player who made any impression at all for any other club in the past 30 years?

Aside from Rooney, examples of 'academy players' who made an impact at any other club are too numerous to mention.

Source may be dubious as it's from a journo on Twatter, but it makes you wonder how much that languague is pushed by Everton and resisted by the loaner clubs? And will it/does it have the desired effect?

Some players just won’t find their game till their mid 20s (Leon Osman being a prime example) and I still hope Dowell might find the consistency to make an impact at PL level. If he can get in the Sheffield United team and get them up then I’d almost be tempted to loan him there for a full season in the Premier League to see how he fares. The boy needs starts.

Is he better than Sigurdsson, no.

Is he better than Gomes, no.

Is he better defensively than Gana, no.

He might come through when Sigurdsson is finished in four years but he’d need to greatly improve.

Its not in his DNA to spend the same amount of his energy in chasing back as many other players do. Just as its not in the DNA of those other players to glide past defenders, instantly play teammates into space and sweetly time his shots to combine power and accuracy. Those skills he's got - he's still the only player I've seen score a hat-trick from outside the box (albeit at u23 level - a fierce drive, a chip and a first-time shot from a cross-field pass).

But he is a touch player and that touch deserts both him and others of his ilk for spells and that's when their loyalty and honesty are questioned.

We know how hard it is to create and take opportunities in the Premier League and sacrificing some energy about the pitch to increase our goals account is a price worth paying.

Do we want a team of Sammy Lee's or Golden Vision's?

Years ago most teams had a languid stylish player who could unlock a defence or score a spectacular goal but mostly would need 9 players to do the hard work for them. A Sheedy, Brady, Worthington, Curry, Barnes, Cunningham, hoddle etc.

In the prem I liken him to Ozil and Mahrez everyone else plays with work rate first and foremost.

As much as I love watching players who have a real languid style our current setup cannot accommodate anyone who doesn't work their balls off for 90 mins to make up for the lack of quality across the team.

I would love to see this loan improve his work rate and positional awareness but that's his natural game and can't see it changing. A move to another league like the Dutch or French league may be more suited.

John, for calling out those saying Kieran is 'lazy', and for highlighting his considerable skills set. I consider that technically, KD is as gifted as any other footballer currently on our books. He has sublime skills.

Like John, in the past I excused Barkley on the same grounds as he defends Kieran: that you don't want your most creative footballer expending unnecessary time and energy doing the grunt work, that he was better focussing on honing his creative skills which could better influence and determine a game.

That said, I'm sure the wise old bird that you are John recognizes and understands it is not an 'either-or' choice when you ask: 'Do we want a team of Sammy Lee's or Golden Vision's?'

You know a successful team needs a good mix and balance of the two.

And that is what Rob alludes to, that 'luxury' players such as KD are very difficult to accommodate in today's modern football (more the pity, IMO).

Increasingly, the languid technician is being marginalised unless he also has the graft to go with his craft. The very best players in the world certainly possess these two attributes.

Kieran initially did very well on loan at Forest last season and it was more a change of manager who didn't fancy him in his way of playing that saw him dropped, stalling the evident progress he was making.

I don't agree with those saying he could better benefit from a loan to a continental club. Sheffield United is right in the mix for the most competitive Championship promotion race in years. It's a good training ground for what we want from Kieran: to become a first teamer for Everton in the English Premier League.

Very interesting what Michael K @ 19 mentions, that there is Twatter gossip that the Blades have a monetary incentive to play Kieran. No qualms with that if true and that the lad returns to Everton a more all-round player.

I agree. I would argue it is similar with Tosun -- a latter day 80s goal poacher. It is one of the problems bringing through talent. You bring in 7/8 year olds who seem to fit the profile you're looking for but 15 years later when it is their time to shine, the game has evolved and teams aren't looking for those kind of players any more.

Sheffield Utd are a decent team, probably not top level in their league but should stay around the play-off places. They looked as though they need a midfielder who can put their foot on the ball. I'll be receiving regular updates on whether Dowell can do that or whether he gets overwhelmed by the fairly frenetic pace of the league.

I for one would be interested to know how Kieran does over there.

As already commented on previously, the Championship tends to be quite intense and Sheffield United are no exception. Chris Wilder plays a full-on style and anyone who appears to be a passenger will get hooked.

I've seen Dowell play live 3 times and there's no doubt he has some skill, so it'll be interesting to see how the Bramall Lane crowd take to him. I think he needs a good start.

He's needs to play, learn, listen, develop and understand how other smaller, lightweight players make the most of their talent through hard work, movement, vision, one and two touch football like David Silva or Scholes.

I'm not saying he's that good but to simply let the ball do the work, not having to dribble 20 yards with it every time.

Peter Mills, cheers for the updates and thank you.