This Everton man set to benefit the most from Walcott and Kean loan exit
Everton youngster Anthony Gordon is set to benefit the most from loan exits of Moise Kean and Theo Walcott.
Last season, during the project restart, when key players like Andre Gomes, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Alex Iwobi and others exhibited abhorrent displays, youngster Anthony Gordon was a silver lining amongst the grey and dull clouds. He announced himself to the world football with an energetic, inspiring display in the Merseyside derby and hasn’t looked back since then.
The Merseyside derby is not a game for the faint hearted. Tempers and emotions flare high. It is not even a place for a young kid to be thrown into. Yet, here was Anthony Gordon finding himself in the starting lineup on 21st June 2020. He showed nerves of ice throughout the game and grabbed his opportunity with welcoming hands.
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Ancelotti was quick to recognize the potential that Gordon could unearth in himself and the Italian continued to hand him chances after the chances, featuring in 9 out of 9 remaining games of the 2019-20 campaign. All the omens pointed at Gordon being a key cog in the Ancelotti system in the 2020-21 season.
Everton went big in the transfer market which saw a major transformation in the team. The arrival of James Rodriguez, Allan, Doucoure saw last season’s starters like Sigurdsson, Walcott, Iwobi get relegated to the bench and a youngster like Gordon who had caught the eye the most miss out on the matchday squad completely.
Anthony Gordon was not even included in the matchday squads for the first three Premier League games simply because the surplus options Ancelotti had. He did feature against Salford and Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup but failed to make the cut in the league. His exclusion didn’t mean that the Italian had lost confidence in the 19 year old but it was simply due to the competition in the squad.
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Players like Moise Kean and Theo Walcott got the nod ahead of Gordon in the 18 man matchday squad but things are about to change as we resume domestic football after the October International break. Kean, 19, was regularly seen on the Everton bench and was handed multiple substitute appearances to prove his abilities.
Gordon was never a direct competition to Kean in terms of position but was a competition in terms of youngster preference. Due to the size of the squad, very rarely would Ancelotti name two learning youngsters on the bench when there are proven and experienced personnel available.
When you constitute a bench, you prefer not to have more than two wingers on the bench. Ancelotti had to pick from the pool of Walcott, Bernard, Iwobi, and Gordon which saw Gordon missing out almost every time. Now that Walcott has moved to Southampton on loan, things could start working in the 19 year old’s favour.
With Kean gone too, Gordon could start featuring more regularly and even get proper opportunities to further hone his skills and play and learn from the best, James Rodriguez. The loan exits are set to benefit Anthony Gordon massively as he continues to tread on the upward trajectory of growth and development.
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Is Anthony Gordon set for a more involved role at Everton?