Season › 2024-25 › News Mills back in training after almost a year out of action Lyndon Lloyd 18/12/2024 25comments | Jump to last Stanley Mills, the Everton Under-21s winger who suffered a serious injury out on loan at Oxford United last season, is back in training following a lengthy lay-off. The 21-year-old tore a patella tendon playing for the League One outfit back in January but is now hoping to secure another temporary move when the transfer window opens next month. Mills, the son of former Leeds United and Manchester City defender, Danny, played 27 times and scored once for Oxford before he was stretchered off with the serious knee injury in an FA Cup defeat to Coventry City. A hugely promising Academy prospect, Mills has been with the Blues since joining from Leeds's development programme seven years ago and he signed a professional contract in July 2021. Reader Comments (25) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () Derek Knox 1 Posted 18/12/2024 at 17:49:53 Could be great news if Dyche ever considers to play him. One of the best prospects I have seen at Everton, before the horrific injury. Stay fit Stan, I believe you have a bright future, hopefully with us ! Mike Gaynes 2 Posted 18/12/2024 at 17:56:19 Welcome back, young man! Michael Kenrick 3 Posted 18/12/2024 at 18:03:03 Considering he's now no longer strictly under 21 (his birthday was in October), can he play for the first-team this season, based on his U21s legacy status from previous seasons?Or would he need to be registered as a first-team player after the January Window? I think we have a slot on the 'roster' as we have at last count only 24 listed senior players. Pete Neilson 4 Posted 18/12/2024 at 18:25:25 Good luck to him. Looks like for U21 players this means those born on or after 1 January 2003 so he'd meet the criteria to be added to the squad in addition to any named 25. However, Dyche has given the fewest minutes to U21s, out of all 69 managers who have more than 100 games under their belt. So, if he's good enough, maybe we'll see more of him under the new, yet to be announced… but surely coming regime. John Graham 5 Posted 18/12/2024 at 18:40:13 Great news.He was progressing really well before his unfortunate injury and was getting some great plaudits while at Oxford. Hopefully the injury hasn't affected him too much and he'll be back in the first-team squad early next year. Good luck, Stanley. John Raftery 6 Posted 18/12/2024 at 18:47:35 A question surely is whether or not he goes out on loan again for the rest of this season. Getting proper games under his belt will be more beneficial than either sitting on the first-team bench or playing in the Under-21s. Mike Hayes 7 Posted 18/12/2024 at 19:10:53 Hopefully he can be added to the first team given 12 players' contracts are up, as are Thelwell's and Dyche's (here's hoping) and there's only a few worth keeping. Paul Kernot 8 Posted 18/12/2024 at 19:34:27 I tore my ACL 20 years ago. Keyhole surgery helped but, as a winger, I could no longer jink in and out nd around a full-back without real pain. No doubt the treatment Stan has had is significantly better than mine so here's hoping. I watched him in the pre-season in Sydney and thought he was really a stand-out performer. Derek Knox 9 Posted 18/12/2024 at 20:12:56 Paul @ 8, bringing back memories of the pre-season, before injury, where he was the stand-out performer and put the senior squad members in the shade. Pity the injury blighted his progress. Then again, would Dyche have played him if the injury hadn't happened? Annika Herbert 10 Posted 18/12/2024 at 21:03:47 I don’t get the dislike towards Thelwell at all. It’s not like he has been given unlimited funds to improve the squad. Sure there have been some misses but he hasn’t done a bad job in my opinion, given the hand he has been dealt Peter Mills 11 Posted 18/12/2024 at 21:30:30 Good luck to the lad. Dennis Stevens 12 Posted 18/12/2024 at 21:31:29 I agree, Annika #10. However, I would expect any new owners to look to replace Dyche somewhere between immediately & the end of the season &, inevitably, they'd have to consider whether Thelwell is the man to do the job they're looking for - including recruitment of the next manager, unless they already have somebody lined up. Jerome Shields 13 Posted 19/12/2024 at 06:30:33 Good Luck..I hope things work out.Annika#19Thewell is s in a difficult situation.He is working with a Relegation Specialist Manager and they like a small squad of regular players, who have Professional experience.In Dyche's case players are brought in as back up and he will never play them to build up match fitness, only as replacements.This I am sure is a bone of contention for both Thewell and the players.It a!so seems that players that are out of favour with Dyche need to be careful of their attitude when dealing with Dyche.Thewell is stuck in the middle of all this.The Director of Football Role is something that most have difficulty understanding and expectations are hard to pin down or even make sense off.In Everton's case the role was introduced by Moshiri and he hadn't got a Clue.and he mucked about with it . Mike Gaynes 14 Posted 19/12/2024 at 06:54:32 THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS THE FRIEDKIN ACQUISITION OF EVERTON IS COMPLETED AND WILL BE ANNOUNCED THURSDAY MORNING. The report via The Athletic tonight is from Patrick Boyland, David Ornstein and Matt Slater.Wheeeeewwww. Jerome Shields 15 Posted 19/12/2024 at 07:42:10 Good News indeed. Stephen Davies 16 Posted 19/12/2024 at 08:17:28 Fabrizio says all done and to be announced today Colin Crooks 17 Posted 19/12/2024 at 08:33:02 Great news Mike.New chapter Pete Neilson 18 Posted 19/12/2024 at 08:43:21 Reported that “President of The Friedkin Group, Marc Watts, is set to lead the Everton board alongside Friedkin Group representatives”. Mark Murphy 19 Posted 19/12/2024 at 08:43:43 On the main topic, I’m sure he’s a good lad and I’m glad he’s on the mend but 1 goal in 27 games for Oxford shouldn’t catapult him into our first team squad in my humble opinion.Bah humbugUTFT Mike Hayes 20 Posted 19/12/2024 at 08:49:18 Should have new owners in next 24hours according to Sky Sport - let’s hope this is the start of the real Rising from the ashes after a very expensive false start 💙 Dave Abrahams 21 Posted 19/12/2024 at 08:58:05 Mark (19), After such a long lay off through a bad injury I doubt very much you will see Stan play in the first team this season but I wish him all the luck in the world for his future. Rob Halligan 22 Posted 19/12/2024 at 09:02:40 Mike # 14……..is that our Thursday Morning, or your Thursday Morning, making it our Thursday late afternoon? John Graham 23 Posted 19/12/2024 at 10:08:48 It's done.A new and hopefully successful era has started. COYB Howard Don 24 Posted 19/12/2024 at 10:19:36 Annika (10) I agree, Thelwell has done well under exceptionally difficult circumstances. Mark Murphy 25 Posted 19/12/2024 at 11:31:49 It’s all done and dusted!Now just get us 3 points on Saturday and it’ll be a bloody good Christmas!!UTFT! Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. How to get rid of these ads and support TW © ToffeeWeb