Ryan Ledson was happy to miss a Blues milestone

Why Everton youngster Ryan Ledson was happy to miss a Blues milestone

The talented teenage is following in Wayne Rooney's footsteps by tasting international success before his club first team debut


England U17s captain Ryan Ledson lifts the trophy after winning the UEFA Under 17 European Championship 2014

Everton FC youngster Ryan Ledson is hoping to follow the same path to stardom taken by one of the greatest players of his generation.

In the spring of 2002 a prodigiously talented teenager was named by Everton manager Walter Smith in his first team squad for an end of season trip to Southampton.

With Everton hanging onto a 1-0 lead Wayne Rooney failed to make it onto the pitch – and his hopes of becoming the youngest player in the club’s history were put on ice for four months.

Everton still had two fixtures remaining, but Rooney’s country needed him for an Under-18 tournament and it was decided to continue his education at international level.

Fast forward a decade and talented teenager Ryan Ledson faced exactly the same dilemma.

Named on the Blues substitutes bench for an April trip to Southampton earlier this year, Ledson didn’t make it onto the pitch.

And with two games of the season remaining it was decided England’s need was greater.

It was a wise decision.

Ledson went on to skipper England’s Under-17s to a famous European Championship triumph, scoring in the penalty shoot-out success over Holland.

But the young midfielder still sometimes wonders ‘what if?’

“It was a decision Gareth Southgate and the manager had to make about me going,” he said. “They had to decide whether I made my debut for the first team at Hull at the end of the season or went to the European Championships.


Everton FC's Ryan Ledson met Carson Hartley on a visit to Zoe's Place in West Derby

“Personally I would have liked to have made my debut, but you can’t take away winning the European Championships. It was unbelievable.

“I’ve just got to keep working hard for the Under-21s now and hopefully it might come this season.

“Wayne Rooney’s a great player and I don’t think I’ll have the career he’s going to have! But I just have to keep my head down.

“I travelled to Russia recently in the Europa League and I hope I’ll have a few more.”

An industrious and accomplished midfielder, 17-year-old Ledson admits that there are several players at Finch Farm he looks up to – including a couple of players who have recently stepped up from the Under-21 ranks to senior duty.

“We train sometimes with the first team but we always see the lads around the building and they are all good lads,” added Ledson.

“I probably look towards James McCarthy – the same position as me, the same type of player. He’s brilliant. Last season he was probably one of our best players.

“But if you also look at the likes of Tyias Browning and Luke Garbutt now who are in the first team changing room now and training with them every day.

“The gaffer likes bringing young players through. He did it at Wigan and he’s doing it at Everton. It gives all the lads in the 21s a boost.”

The man helping push the club’s youngsters towards first team duty is a familiar one to Evertonians, 1995 FA Cup winner David Unsworth.

The defender made 350 appearances in two spells for the Blues, scoring 40 goals, and Ledson added: “I’ve seen a few things on television about him. He was a good player, very tough and very strong and I think that’s what he ‘s trying to instil in us.

“He’s always in the gym and keeps as fit as anything and I think that sets an example for us, makes us work hard.

“He’s a great coach. We look forward to coming into training. He’s always dead bubbly and lively and he has us playing really well.”



The bubbly exterior is not an act.

Unsworth is genuinely thrilled to be working at the club he loves.

He has been guiding the club’s Under-21s for two years now.

“It’s great to be back. It’s where I want to be.

“It was like the Holy Grail for me coming back to Everton.

“It’s just got this ridiculous magnetic pull. When you’re not there and you’re not involved you just want to be there.

“I had some great times at different clubs – but winning at Everton always meant a bit more on a Saturday evening – it really did - and losing just hurt a bit more on a Sunday morning and that has never changed, even when I’m coaching.

“I want our Under-21s to be a world class facility and the sort of group that the manager can call on whenever he needs to.

“Our aim is to produce players for every position on a regular basis and we won’t stop until that has happened.

“Every single one of them has an opportunity. How far they go will be down to them.

“They know how hard it’s going to be but they certainly work hard enough to fulfill that potential – and some of them have had a little taste of it already.

“Ryan travelled to Krasnodar, Tyias Browning made his debut in the derby and then played at Manchester United and that lifts everybody in the group because they’re a tight knit group.

“We’re not a stand alone group because the manager integrates the Under-21s into his first team group and it’s brilliant they get that exposure.

“There’s a lot of top clubs I know of that don’t do that.

“Tyias is a shining example of the value of that. He is one we have all known about for years and years but up until this season Roberto has had him training with the first team from day one of pre-season and the difference it makes training with the best players is incredible.

“Our young players are very lucky they get that exposure.”

They will be hoping for even more exposure in the first team this season, following in the footsteps of a 16-year-old who is now on the brink of becoming his country’s top goalscorer.

Source: David Prentice / Echo