Antonee Robinson could save Everton a lot of money

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Antonee Robinson is starring at Championship strugglers Bolton Wanderers and deserves a chance at Everton next season.

Leighton Baines cannot go on forever. The long-serving left-back has been one of the first names on the Everton team-sheet for the last ten years but he is 33 now and has missed most of this season through injury.

And Everton’s other left-back options are hardly inspiring. Cuco Martina, a right-back by trade, has started 20 Premier League games this season in an unfamiliar position without ever really impressing, while Sam Allardyce clearly does not fancy out-of-favour academy graduate Luke Garbutt.

So there have been no shortage of rumours linking Everton with a long-term Baines successor with Alex Telles, Joe Bryan and Aaron Martin among those linked since the turn of the year.

L’Esportiu claimed the Toffees even made an £18.1 million offer for Espanyol’s Martin late in the January transfer window while the other two would not come cheap either.

So while money may not be a problem these days, thanks to majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, Everton should at least look at solutions closer to home before they start throwing money at the problem.

And the form of 20-year-old Goodison graduate Antonee Robinson during his loan spell at Bolton Wanderers means he surely deserves an opportunity to stake his claim in a side famed for giving chances to young players.

An English-born former USA U18 international, Robinson has never made a senior appearance for Everton but has established himself as Bolton’s first choice left-back and looks a cut above.

His Trotters teammate Karl Henry went as far as to describe the speedy full-back as ‘unbelievable’ back in November, tipping him to make the grade in Everton’s first-team before long, in quotes reported by Bolton News.

On current form, Robinson should be the latest member of David Unsworth’s 2017 Premier League 2 winning side to be handed his chance.