Everton: This transfer confirmed by Fabrizio Romano !

Everton’s youth academy has suffered a significant loss as Jayden Lienou, a promising full-back, has been signed by Manchester City. The transfer was confirmed by renowned Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano on Twitter, who noted that the 15-year-old talent chose City over two other top English clubs.

Lienou is part of City’s strategic plan to recruit the best young talents for their future lineup. This isn’t the first time Everton has lost an academy player to a rival club; previously, Ishe Samuels-Smith left for Chelsea before making his debut with Everton’s first team.

The departure of such young prospects highlights the challenges faced by clubs like Everton when competing against Europe’s football giants. Despite financial constraints forcing them to cash in on players like Ellis Simms and others last summer, they now face potentially losing out on Lienou if he excels at City or elsewhere, receiving only minimal compensation fees in return.

This trend raises concerns about the pipeline from Everton’s academy to its senior squad, which manager Sean Dyche admitted [Liverpool Echo, March 9] has been lacking recently. Losing more potential candidates doesn’t bode well for the club’s long-term plans.

While Lienou might have been far from joining Everton’s main team, his move underscores the difficulty smaller clubs face in retaining their emerging stars against powerhouses managed by coaches like Pep Guardiola. Anthony Gordon represents one of the few recent success stories from Everton’s homegrown pool before his £45million switch to Newcastle [Sky Sports].

With no clear route into the first-team setup lately except possibly for Lewis Dobbin, this development adds another layer of complexity to Everton’s current predicament—navigating through tight transfer budgets while trying to stay competitive.