Adam Aznou: A (Thierry?) Small Problem

And indeed, if you could do it, surely it's information that is well within the grasp of our recruitment team.

And the lad seems to be exactly the wrong kind of character to benefit from the dubious Moyes method of player development which involves holding them back and clipping their wings.

As somebody said: Can we really afford £45M sat on the bench -- however well they're supposed to be doing in training? (Add Alcaraz to that for a rounded-up total of about £60M??)

There's another rumour that Harrison Armstrong is ripping up trees at Preston.

Here's another bit of a Rumour for Anzou...

"Now here you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down?"

After all, he is a bit green, wouldn't want him to Peter out... I'll get me coat.😁

Some gifted players take quite a bit of time to understand what sacrifices are necessary to become a top professional player (Lookman, Kean), and some never get it (Van der Meyde and, tragically, Royston Drenthe), but Moyes and our recruiting team thought the kid was worth taking a chance on. Moyes is known to be pretty good at getting the message over to young players about putting the work in.

Some signings are a gamble. They work out or they don't. You may recall there was vehement disagreement here over the likes of Grealish, Garner and re-signing Keane. Worked out pretty well.

Maybe Davey will get this kid's head straight, or put a boot up his ass. He's under contract until 2029 at only £25k/week, so there's no hurry. He may be "eyeing the window" but he ain't climbing out unless we say so.

DT, yeah, Harrison is doing great. Here he'd be sitting on the bench, unless you think he'd beat out Gana or Garner to a starting job, or beat out Röhl for his role. Personally I'm delighted to see him putting in Championship minutes and growing into a potential star.

Maybe a loan to the Championship would do him some good. No point loaning out abroad, he needs to adjust to the British game.

From what I've seen the lad has tons of ability but doesn't carefully choose his moments to try the adventurous.

As Mike G suggests; big talent, big(ger) ego.

I really hope he settles, listens to what is required from him, and focuses on delivering it. If he does I think he could become a real asset.

If the above is true, then this kid needs to grow up or he'll end up playing non-league in Bulgaria or some such country, and wondering where it all went wrong.

The blame would lie with the player as long as he was not made any now broken promises, especially if his attitude mentioned above was known to the club's negotiators. Or perhaps there was some naivety on both sides.

I think you have hit the nail on the head once again. Moyes, being as conservative as he is, will choose experience if fit over upcoming (possibly) talent. He is probably on very decent wages for a 19-year-old, but wants to run before he has learned to walk in the Premier League.

Hope it's got an element of misguided gossip to it, but Kieran (when not bear-baiting) is generally spot on with his comments and observations!

You ain't playing with Moyes in charge. Stay away.

He's had one short loan and maybe needs another to help him acclimatise. Bit early to accuse him of being a bad apple or a bad signing.

Mykolenko is out of contract in the summer. I would have thought the plan was to see if we could introduce Aznou over the course of the season to see if he can step up.

If so, great, we have a player who can be our left-back for years to come for absolute peanuts. That would make him brilliant business.

If not, one of those things which all clubs experience who develop young players. Each of Brighton and Bournemouth recently bought teenage left-backs from Argentina in Barco and Soler. Neither has worked out. Barco left the club fairly soon and Soler remains behind Truffert whom Bournemouth bought to replace Kerkez.

Not every player who turns up as a youth development project will be a success. It's not bad management or bad recruitment necessarily.

I too am delighted with the reports coming out of Preston about Armstrong. Soon he'll be deserving a move to a "big" club.

Not surprised the lad wants out. Not a Moyes player, too slight and too young.

I say again, we have the worst scouting and recruitment team in the Premier League.

He needs a loan because, if he's really going to develop, then he has simply got to play, especially if he's not quite ready for the brutally, physically demanding nature of the Premier League.

We don't know the ins and outs but it does give the feeling that people aren't totally aligned behind the scenes in our recruitment team...

This is not some totally untested kid. He performed reasonably well in La Liga last season, which is a top league, and he has shone in high-pressure European youth matches, even playing for his country at senior level.

He's not some run-of-the mill academy player; he's a top talent that needs to be given time to progress.

On Sunday, Moyes had Mykolenko playing more advanced than usual and getting quite a lot of time and space on the ball in their final third. He doesn't have the technical skills to shine there; Aznou does and yet was not given a single minute -- even when Mykolenko was playing poorly and we were 3-0 down.

It's a terrible message to send to young players and I really don't understand it. Surely you at least use those last 5 minutes to get him on the pitch and give him a taste?

Perhaps Aznou is not doing enough in training but then maybe he needs a little more encouragement and a sign that he might actually get on the pitch at some point. God knows we could use an overlapping full-back who is comfortable in the final third.

Interesting how the more daring managers in recent years: Martinez, Silva and Lampard -- ended up completely losing it with us.

Whereas the less daring / more experienced? In Moyes, Ancelotti, Allardyce and Dyche -- all soon revert to a boring defensive shape.

Still we just don't know with Aznou. He may just be getting fit.

Where do they live? A smart hotel? What do they do after training? Remember, they will not have any mates and may not always be fluent in English. And on top of that you suddenly find that you are not as good as you thought.

It seems we have suddenly got three young men who must all feel that they should be playing more than an odd appearance as substitute, and with money in their pocket and time on their hands, they will need careful management and support.

None are Premier League ready (Moyes's words)... Unbelievable.

Or when Mykolenko gets injured?

Perhaps one other factor in Aznou not getting game time is Branthwaite's absence? Jarrad's replacement, Keane, does not have the pace to cover for any mistakes made by Aznou, and Moyes does not want to take any chances on that account.

I have only seen him on the pitch once, on TV when they where in the States, and he came on as a sub.

Am I correct in saying he was not in the squad on Sunday against Spurs?

All players have different personalities and nobody is perfect. One player I remember, very young, played for Spurs, wasn't happy not getting played. He was ambitious, went to Middlesborough to get regular football in the first team and was transferred to Liverpool for big money. He was a dirty so and so but a terrific player and captain, Graham Souness.

Lookman, remember him, didn't get a good run with us; some said he didn't deserve it; others thought differently. Lookman was one of them, he was also ambitious and look where he is now.

There were/ are plenty of other players who had big ideas about themselves who are long forgotten, I haven't seen Aznou so I don't know how good he is or can be but I would really like to see him to make my mind up.

I know nothing about his personality either but liked David's post @17 as well as Kieran's.

In an ideal world, we'd have this ample choice of midfielders as well as two quality ready-to-go full-backs but, since we were never going to be in a position where that was possible this season, I think we've put resources in the wrong places.

I agree with Sam that it has been apparent, and not just in the last game, that Mykolenko has been urged to get forward but all that has done is highlight his severe offensive limitations.

Of course striker is our other massive headache but at least we signed someone for that role... just that at this early stage, we may have ended up with yet another dud (though I detected the occasional glimpse of an actual player on Sunday).

I just question if Moyes is the "whisperer" to handle Aznou. He is young and egotistic.

If you look at Moyes's track records with youngsters, Barkley struggled under him, Rooney fell out and they ended up suing each other in court.

John-Paul Kissock seemed to think he was destined for greatness and rightly but probably wrongly blames Moyes for his demise, though falling all the way to non-league was a surprise.

Sheedy stated Moyes never took an interest in youngsters.

Then on the other side of the coin we have the "ego" issue. Again, Moyes doesn't have a great track record with "big personalities": Gazza, Drenthe, Jo, Shandy, Big Dunc (they made amends but he was banished for a time), Beattie floundered (Shearer said of him "If he was half as good as he thought he was, he'd be twice as good as he is").

Obviously some of these were nutters but there are nutter whisperers out there who somehow keep these types in check and get more out of them than most. But Moyes seems to be of the Roy Hodgson mould of preferring to have "good lads" in the team than egotists. Which is all well and good but begs the question: why sign Aznou?

The other thing is that he "may" become good -- in which case, people will say it was a good investment if we sell him. But we won't sell him for much if he never plays. More likely he will be someone who runs down his contract and leaves on the cheap before showing what he can do elsewhere.

He also had Barkley and Stones in reserve.

Not a bad list compared to what has come after, with a state-of-the-art Finch Farm fully operational.

I understand Moyes is reluctant to experiment since we have few players in the back line and midfield who are threats or have vision for the forward pass. Moyes is limited in what he can do with the initial setup.

However, when Plan A fails and there is 30 minutes left to suffer, why not give them a chance? Maybe a player like Aznou would be a risk to take off his development routine but there is a chance he could spark something.

On the left with Jack, it is a good chance to take.

As far as a taking a risk goes, maybe Moyes should watch some old tapes and see what happened when Cadamarteri -- a last-minute addition to the subs who already played earlier in the day -- was subbed on v Chelsea. Or when Amokachi subbed himself on v Spurs.

If you 'had you own opinions' and/or openly disagreed with Harry Catterick - but you were doing the business on the field, you were 'OK' - until you weren't- then you were quickly gone.

If you were quiet as a mouse and you were doing the business on the field, you were 'OK' - until you weren't- then you were quickly gone.

I think Moyes, while not that 'harsh' is possibly in that end of the spectrum - how far is a matter for speculation.

Anyway, with apparent rise in peoples 'entitlement', player power, contracts - not forgetting agents. It seems too much nowadays to have an old style 'I'm the Boss - and what I say goes!' workplace.

You can also add in that there are sometimes two types of signings;

1) Manager signings

2) 'Club' signings (DoF and/or recruitment group) who sign players for Investment..."and anyway if he's not ready, you're the highly paid Coach - coach him so he is fit for purpose"

But there always was and there always will be some people whose mouth also serves as a shovel and they just won't/can't stop digging...and sometimes that Shearer comment is spot on.

We have never had sufficient control in games this season for the manager to sub on a young player like Aznou. We all know how cautious Moyes is and he will never do anything to jeopardise a game (in his opinion).

Given how average Mykolenko is as a player, I would have liked to see him at left-back but he has zero chance this season.

Aznou won't develop if he doesn't play, therefore a loan in January would be the best outcome for him.

I thought Lookman had huge talent. He was technically excellent, had great control and was rapid. Physically, he wasn't strong enough but that comes with time. When Allardyce wanted to send him on loan to Derby, he insisted in RB Leipzig.

He is 28 now, and thriving at Atalanta with 40 goals in 98 appearances. Would we have had the patience and structure to nurture his ability over several years?

Everton had never had the stability over the last 10 years to manage the development path of young players. That is why it is an interesting decision to invest for the future in Rohl, Dibling, Aznou and Armstrong.

If it works, then brilliant. I am a bit concerned that the club still does not have the right structures in place to nurture their career paths.

We need Premier League ready players at the moment. Beto, Barry, Aznou may never be up to the Premier League level, yet they're in the side or on the bench.

And Dibling looks a long way short as well. Is it any wonder we're struggling?

Better than signing ‘ready-now' dross like Walcott, Schneiderlin, Williams, Tosun, Klaassen, Maupay, Harrison, Rondon, Coady, Delph, Alli, Sigurdsson, Martina, Sidibe, Gomes, Bernard, McGeady, Niasse, Funes Mori, Alcaraz, Besic, Kone,

How much did that pile of under-performing shite cost in fees and wages?

I mentioned Lookman in my post #4 as one who took quite a while to "get it". I would always call for him to be subbed in, but when he was, he would never quite get the job done.

After we gave up on him, Leipzig, Fulham and Leicester did the same. At 25, he seemed destined to be a journeyman. Then Atalanta signed him for chump change and he finally began to show real professional maturity to go with his talent.

But, as Steve says, could we have waited out that maturation process in a club desperate for survival, on the hope he would come good? The answer is obviously not.

The difference now is we can afford to wait for Aznou to grow up. (Pat, we're not poor anymore!)

And if it's true that the backroom staff are saying that Dibling is very unlucky not to have had a lot more minutes, then it appears that David Moyes hasn't lost enough of that natural caution that has always been his hallmark.

I remember Lookman coming on at Anfield in an FA Cup tie and changing us into a team that could suddenly attack. Rooney was hooked, Sigurdsson was taken off the wing and moved inside, and Lookman helped Everton to finally start asking Liverpool some questions.

We gave as good as we got, losing to a last-minute Van Dijk goal, with our keeper making another bad mistake, and the very next week at Wembley against Spurs, Sigurdsson was back on the wing and Lookman wasn't even on the bench; the game was already out of our sight well before half-time.

We have had to endure some shite over the years and if our Moyes doesn't break his management style and start trying to implement and integrate a few more of our players, ie, start using more of the players in his squad on the pitch, then I'm beginning to worry that things are going to get bad again.

I can understand his frustration at not getting a sniff and I don't mind a bit of cockiness and irritation if he believes in his own ability.

What I don't understand is why our recruitment people bring in players like him, and possibly Dibling, for a manager who isn't going to use them.

I'm hoping that we're building a younger squad for a new, more dynamic coach in the near future but it's a big ask expecting Aznou to swap 30-odd degrees and the Mediterranean lifestyle for winter in the North-West in the slow lane.

Early days yet -- maybe he will get a game but, in the meantime, I have a lot of sympathy for him.

Not Lookman: he would come out with three very tall and burly minders, the main man usually had a long black coat with a fur collar. They would head straight to the black Rolls Royce and disappear.

I remember someone saying that he headed back to London after the games.

I'm not sure Fulham gave up on him, didn't they want to sign him again after he had left them? And at Leicester, he was doing well there at times including scoring the only goal of the game v Liverpool.

One of Everton's managers said he was one of the best natural goalscorers in training, might have been Koeman or Allardyce.The talent was always there, maybe being a very young lad, he was pining for London with Fulham being a good place for him to be — mind you, it's no use crying over spilt milk now.

With due respect, we simply cannot afford to wait very long for Aznou to grow up because the incumbent left-back is bang average and not really up to being first choice.

If we were no longer relatively poor, I suggest we would have signed a couple of proper full-backs, including on the right where we have none.

I'm still confident Dibling will come through but I'm equally confident both Aznou and Barry will disappear as nothing more than footnotes in the club's history.

When we buy younger players (who will hopefully fulfil their potential, although not a given) on lower wages, we still moan.

Brighton & Bournemouth are cited as the "way to go", but we never hear about their signings that don't work out. As for our current on-field performances, not brilliant, but miles better than what we've delivered over the last 5 or 6 years, if not longer.

We will win on Monday.

I am surprised that this lad hasn't been given a quick 5 minutes when the result wasn't in doubt. But the fact is, he hasn't.

There has to be a reason why not. Something must be wrong on the training ground; could be laziness, bad timekeeping; not getting on with the other players; lacking physicality etc.

If he were currently good enough, I have no doubt he would be in the team, or at least the squad.

For him not to be in the matchday squad, we must assume that something has gone badly awry at Finch Farm.

He has also scored more than a few decent goals in his time at Everton but for some reason he he just can't get any minutes out on the pitch.

Rob @11 hits the nail on the head. Small fee, low risk, high reward. If it works out, brilliant, if not it was worth a punt.

The expectation from him that he'd be starting is unrealistic though. The examples of Brighton, Bournemouth etc show that developing and integrating these players is not an overnight process. It takes time.