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AS THE stirring opening drum roll of Z-Cars blurred out around Goodison Park, the hairs on the back of school-boy George Green’s neck stood-up.

The 15-year-old may have been destined for a big-money move from League Two Bradford City to Tottenham Hotspur, but he had never experienced anything like the atmosphere of Goodison Park on derby day.

Earlier that morning, one of the most highly-rated teenagers in England had been granted privileged access to Everton’s super-charged dressing room, before a chat with David Moyes in the manager’s office.

It’s safe to say Moyes was determined to do all he could to give the Spurs-bound youngster pause for thought.

Whatever the Everton boss said to him in that private meeting did the trick – because Green changed his mind and signed for the Blues last week much to the chagrin of Harry Redknapp, his chairman Daniel Levy and the assorted scouts of a host of other Premier League clubs.

As revealed in the ECHO, the Toffees had been tracing Green all summer, after watching him play in an U-18s trial match for Spurs against Aston Villa when he scored a scintillating hat-trick that left the queue of watching scouts in awe.

Archie Christie, Bradford’s head of football development, firmly believes Green can be every inch as good as the Bantam’s other former youth stars; Manchester United’s Tom Cleverley, Aston Villa’s Fabian Delph, and Liverpool’s Andre Wisdom.

And the Scot is delighted his protegee chose Everton, ahead of a long line of other jealous clubs.

“I’d spoken to Harry Redknapp shortly after George played for our reserves earlier this year and said, “We’ve got a boy here who’s as good as they come,” says the affable former Dagenham & Redbridge scout.

“He was 15 playing for the reserves, challenging for headers he had no right to win against men. Harry had loaned us a goalkeeper at short notice so we owed him a good turn, and we agreed to let George go and have a trial down there.

“For the first 15 minutes of the game against Villa he was quiet, then he took it by the scruff of the neck and scored three. His first was sublime, a 25 yard effort into the top corner, and for the second he beat about six opponents.

“Everton had a scout watching and he sounded me out about speaking to David Moyes.

“I said to George, ‘You'll be going to the Premier League and you need to go for the right footballing reasons, the money will come,’ and I knew there were so many clubs ringing me asking for him.”

Liverpool were among the covetous throng of admirers, but Christie insists Green, who had an earlier trial with the Anfield club, was adamant he did not want to return.

“He said he’d rather stay at Bradford than go to Liverpool,” he says. “He had been last year and was just told he wasn’t big enough, he wasn’t strong enough etc.

“That made my job much easier. It was down to Arsenal, Everton, Rangers, Tottenham and Southampton. Davie Moyes phoned me and we had already agreed an offer for Spurs, but he asked to at least have the chance to speak to him.

“So we took him to the Merseyside derby on Saturday. They told him this is the People’s Club and that you’re either red or blue in Merseyside, and he said ‘I’m a Blue’.

“I told him about my pals Duncan Ferguson and Neville Southall. I told him they've got a great manager who gives young players a chance.

“ ‘Everton are not going to go out and spend £50m on a foreigner, they will spend two or three years developing you,’ I said.

“Look at Wayne Rooney and Jack Rodwell. Even the boy now Ross Barkley. Everton won’t go and spend £18m on an English midfielder from another club like Jordan Henderson.

“I told him that if he works hard and shows what he’s capable of he could be in their first team frame in two or three years.”

As Christie was advising his young charge, Everton scout Andy Philpott pushed the boat out. Green was presented with an Everton home shirt with his name and number 10 on the back, and the well-mannered Dewsbury lad, who turns 16 in January, was already thrilled by his derby experience during which he impressed staff by turning up in a shirt and tie.

“It took 11 minutes to reach an agreement with Everton in the end,” says Christie. “Spurs caught wind of it and offered us double what we’d agreed with Everton. Daniel Levy offered in excess of £600,000 up front and better terms all round.

“But we’d reached an honourable agreement with Everton, and decided to stand by it.”

In the 24 hours after the deal, Christie told the Bradford Telegraph & Argus that Green reminded him of Wayne Rooney, a comment he regrets.

“I shouldn’t have said that, it wasn’t fair on the lad,” he admits. “He is 5ft9in and stocky and plays as a number 10 behind the striker and that was the comparison in my mind.”