Everton will send more players out on loan in January despite Conor Grant's early returnDavid Unsworth adamant that loan moves are vital to players' developmentEverton will not hesitate in sending their young players out on loan in January - despite having to recall Conor Grant this week.
The Blues look likely to terminate Brendan Galloway’s spell at West Bromwich Albion before the transfer window opens but under-23 boss David Unsworth says loan moves remain important.
Grant’s season long-loan at Championship side Ipswich Town was cut short after he made just seven appearances since August and the 21-year-old started for Everton’s second string in their top-of-the-table clash with Manchester City today.
The Blues won 1-0 and leapfrogged City thanks to Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s crisp volley mid-way through the second-half in Southport.
Unsworth says Everton will look to send a clutch of the squad out on loan to Football League clubs in January and says the case of Grant, in particular, does not make him think again about sending his players away from Goodison.
Ipswich Town Conor Grant and Brentford's Maxime Bentley battle for the ball
“No it doesn’t,” Unsworth said.
“I’m a big fan of the loan system - I wish it was still a youth loan system - but I sometimes think a bad loan situation isn’t always a bad thing in the long run.
“It’s a great experience. Ipswich is a great club with great people, Mick (McCarthy) is a fantastic guy, so he will have learnt something from it.
“This is what these players have to do, it’s fine. We certainly will target a few of the players to go out on loan in January.”
Brendan Galloway with Sofiane Feghouli
“He (Grant) has not been getting the minutes he, or us, would desire," he said.
“So, he’s going to be playing for us up until January and hopefully to a view to loan him out in January if the right club comes around.”
Calvert-Lewin’s strike earned Everton u-23s their first win in the league in over a month and Unsworth was full of praise for this side - saying it ranks as one of their best performances this season.
“It’s up there,” he said.
“Man City are a good team with a lot of good players.
“We did a lot of work this week, tactically, and we’ve had access to the players because it was a big game.
“The lads set about our game-plan perfectly and I thought there were some top performances today.”
He added: “If you allow a very, very good Man City team time, space and possession then you’re never going to get a kick.
“So, we wanted to press, we wanted to stop them playing and when we had the ball we wanted to look at a few of their weaknesses, which they have got - every team has - and exploit them and it worked from start to finish.”
Unsworth was delighted that Calvert-Lewin emerged as the hero and says his displays since joining the club in September have warranted a bigger goals return.
“Dom had a difficult 45 minutes but we spoke to him at half-time and asked him to do things slightly different and I thought he was miles better in the second-half,” Unsworth said.
Dominic Calvert Lewin of Everton and Mamadou Sakho compete for the ball
“It was a great finish. We see that everyday in training and he now just needs the goals his performances have deserved this season.”
Liv Echo
