Tom Davies (right) and Mason Holgate (left) have both broken into the first team

Having seen Tom Davies, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Mason Holgate break into the first team, Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips talks to Joe Royle about the emergence of Everton's young players and why there are likely to be more to come...

The rise to prominence of the youngsters in Everton's first team has been a source of great pride in the stands at Goodison Park this season.

During last Saturday's 4-0 win over Hull, Tom Davies and Dominic Calvert-Lewin again caught the eye. Aged just 18, midfielder Davies has looked a star in the making this season while Calvert-Lewin, who turned 20 this month, marked the win over Hull with his first goal for the Blues. Sat patiently on the bench were 20-year-old Mason Holgate and 19-year-old Ademola Lookman.

Lookman aside, all have served their time in Everton's Under-23 side, although Davies is the only one of those four who is homegrown. In the last six years there have been 10 academy graduates who have played for the first team, with Ross Barkley the most high profile of those making his first-team debut back in 2011.

Everton's U23 team, managed by the club's former captain David Unsworth, sit proudly atop the Premier League 2 table. But it hasn't just been a case of plucking players out of Unsworth's team and throwing them in at the deep end. The club have been quick to allow their players to go out on loan. And this is where the club's professional development co-ordinator, Joe Royle, comes in.

It is hard to find a truer Blue than Joe. He made his Everton debut as a fresh-faced 16-year-old forward in 1966 and went onto become the club's leading scorer in five seasons, lifting the title in Harry Catterick's 1969/70 Championship side.

2:58 Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored in Everton's 4-0 win over Hull Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored in Everton's 4-0 win over Hull

In 1994 he returned to Goodison Park as manager and led the club out of their early 90's doldrums to an FA Cup win over Manchester United in his first campaign, followed by an impressive sixth-placed Premier League finish the following season.

Now he's back overseeing the development of Everton's young players, helping find loan clubs for them and watching the progress of the likes of Gethin Jones at Barnsley and Callum Connolly at Wigan

"I'm loving it, it's my football club. I love seeing the young players develop," says Royle. "I work closely with the first-team manager Ronald Koeman and David Unsworth and we find the players we think would benefit from a loan and once we find the right club for them I go around and watch them.

Joe Royle started out as a player at Everton

"I was at Morecambe and Grimsby recently watching two of our players. I was at Burton earlier on in the month and I've been to Wigan a couple of times. I go out and report back to Ronald, Dave and even the chairman, he loves reading about the progress of the young players."

There is a balance to be struck between keeping those who would benefit from remaining at the club's Finch Farm training base and others who need first-team football to make the next step up.

"Look at Harry Kane, he had been on four loans before he went back to Tottenham and then started to turn into England's top striker," Royle explains.

At our games, when I look up at the stands, there's the full jamboree of scouts. They all know about our young players. Joe Royle

"There's a number of players who have gone down that route of going on loan first and then coming back. It's a matter of who we can let go without depleting the Under-23 team too much as they're currently top of their league and it's a trophy we dearly want to win, but at the same time we have got to have an eye on development.

"At our games, when I look up at the stands, there's the full jamboree of scouts. They all know about our young players."

It's not just the scouts and Everton supporters who have noticed the progress of the youngsters. The first team is impressing again after a sticky patch during the winter, and it is in no small part down to the new talent being brought into Koeman's side.

"All of a sudden the make up has changed and you see the identity of the side change with what Ronald wants in the team," Royle adds. "If we can do it from within the club he'll do so, but I've no doubt with the backing of Mr Moshiri [Everton's major shareholder] and the financial clout we have now there will be players coming in during the summer."

Royle is one of the best judges around when it comes to assessing a player's potential to make the grade, calling on his own experiences as a player and then manager.

"For about 40 years I was the youngest player ever to play in Everton's first team, which I was very proud of. Then when I was manager of Everton I gave Richard Dunne his debut. If you're good enough you're old enough.

Davies has impressed for Everton this season

"We've got several more players coming through too as well as those already playing first-team football, I won't embarrass them by naming them but everyone knows about our players coming through. We have a lot of talent in the Under 23s, that's why they are top of the league."

Unsworth's players aren't just riding high in the league, they are a grounded bunch off the pitch too. Back in November he took the entire squad to Goodison Park to take part in the Goodison Sleepout, where they slept rough for a night at the stadium to raise money for homeless and vulnerable people in Liverpool. The U23 players, under Unsworth's lead, have always recognised their duties with the club's charitable foundation Everton in the Community.

And as Davies and his peers have already shown this season, there is something special about watching young players get their chance on the pitch in a world of seasoned professionals. Everton fans will be hoping there are many more to follow in his footsteps.

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