Tom Davies was the player Carlo Ancelotti brought into midfield on Saturday to replace the injured Allan as Everton beat Arsenal 2-1 at Goodison Park. Is this his last chance to cement a place in the Blues squad?
Davies has had a long time to find a role in the Everton first team. Ever since the native scouser and life-time Evertonian first broke into the Toffees team he’s been in and out of the side ultimately unable to find the consistency needed.
Davies was a player who emerged from the team’s youth squad in the 2016-17 season and at first he played instinctively and with a freedom that young footballers given an unexpectedly early chance sometimes display.
Perhaps most memorably in just his second game in a royal blue shirt he was part of an outstanding team performance as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City were humbled 4-0 at Goodison Park.
The youngster played superbly well that day showing great energy, tenacity and no little ability on the ball driving forward from midfield at every opportunity. He topped off his performance with his first Everton goal too.
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It was early days but there were high hopes for the player. Perhaps he could even become a Bryan Robson type, combining defensive steel with dynamic and incisive breaks from midfield and the ability to score goals to boot.
However, although he had a decent debut season, he struggled the following year, again as many young players often tend to do.
Ever since then Davies has very rarely come close to reproducing the sort of form he initially showed. Too often he has been very inconsistent and has seemed to lack confidence in his game.
He’s rarely displayed the energy and tenacity he first exhibited when he initially broke into the Blues side. And the quality of his passing and decision-making has often been very poor.
There were plenty of Blues who are unconvinced by him and would have been happy for Davies to either be sold or sent out on loan this past transfer window.
But in the end apparently no offers came in for him and Davies remains an Everton player. This season he’s not had too much game time and again it seemed likely he might be leaving next month or in the following summer’s window.
Now though with the injury to Allan, he perhaps has a final chance to see if he can step up and contribute the sort of performances that would make him a player able to contribute to the developing evolution of the Blues under Ancelotti.
He’s obviously not a replacement for Allan but it’s important Everton can develop a squad with the depth to cope with injuries and a relentless run of games like this current one.
The Italian praised Davies solid contribution to the Toffees last victory as they dug out a battling 2-1 victory over Arsenal. Now if he continues to get chances to play he has to keep on producing these type of consistently strong performances otherwise I think he will be gone next summer.