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Kevin Kilbane: Sam Allardyce is perfect for Everton’s youngsters

HULL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 28: (Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
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Everton boast a number of young talents coming through the ranks.

Former Everton players Ian Snodin (L) and Kevin Kilbane are interviewed in the Everton fan zone prior to the Premier League match between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park on...

Former Everton defender Kevin Kilbane has told the club’s official website that Sam Allardyce is the perfect manager to help develop the Toffees’ young guns.

The Merseyside giants boast plenty of young talent, in the form of boyhood academy products Tom Davies, Jonjoe Kenny and Beni Baningime, while Dom Calvert-Lewin, Mason Holgate and Ademola Lookman have thrives since being signed.

Some managers are renowned for their faith in youth while others are given the reputation of trusting players with more experience, but Kilbane reckons Allardyce is the best manager for Everton’s youngsters.

Everton's English manager Sam Allardyce looks on during the English Premier League football match between Everton and Crystal Palace at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England on...

Kilbane, who played for Everton for three years between 2003 and 2006 before becoming a BBC Sport pundit, claimed that after playing under Allardyce at Preston, Everton’s stars of the future are in the best possible hands.

“Sam was my first coach in professional football, he took me to Preston and I could never speak highly enough of him for what he did for me in my career,” Kilbane said.

“Sam has a history of helping to develop top footballers – players who have gone on to have very good Premier League careers. Everton has a long history of developing players through the Academy system and getting them into the first-team.

“That is part of the remit if you manage Everton and something Sam would have spoken about prior to taking the job.”

Jon Joe Kenny, Tom Davies, Kieran Dowell and Dominic Calvert-Lewin of England during the UEFA Under 21 Championship Qualifiers between England and Latvia at Vitality Stadium on September 5,...

Calvert-Lewin has been in excellent form this season with eight goals and six assists, while Davies has become first choice of late in a midfield three alongside Wayne Rooney and Idrissa Gueye.

Lookman is impressing on loan with RB Leipzig, while Holgate, Kenny and less so Baningime have all been given plenty of game time to prove their worth this season.

Davies and Calvert-Lookman are in with a chance of a start this weekend, as is Holgate due to Eliaquim Mangala’s injury, as the Toffees go up against Watford on Saturday evening at Vicarage Road.