David Moyes gave Conor McAleny his senior debut at Everton – and six years on he should give him a chance to prove himself at Sunderland.
David Moyes’ attempts to get the old Everton band back together at Sunderland highlights a man out of ideas and desperately clinging to his heyday in an attempt to restore his dwindling reputation.
Yet, while the signings of Victor Anichebe, Steven Pienaar, Darron Gibson and Joleon Lescott give the impression of the Stadium of Light being something of an ‘old boys club’, perhaps Moyes should give thought to another of his former players.
Fortunately, Conor McAleny is still at the beginning of a bright career rather than winding down a long spell at the top of the English game. The striker, now 24 years of age, was given his senior debut by Moyes in the 2011/12 season.
But, in the six seasons since, he has failed to kick on and has not played a league game in Everton colours under either Ronald Koeman or Roberto Martinez. Yet, that’s not to say McAleny is a lost cause certain to fall out of the game.
Loan star
After rather middling loan spells at the likes of Cardiff, Brentford and Wigan, the Whiston-born striker is in the form of his life right now at League One high-flyers Oxford United.
He’s scored 10 goals in 14 starts, making this the first season of his career in which he has hit double figures. McAleny may be something of a late bloomer but it appears that he is finally making strides towards fulfilling his potential – although it appears unlikely that he has much of a future at Everton, the club he joined at the age of 11.
Therefore, with cash-strapped Sunderland in need of a goalscorer, and with McAleny unlikely to cost an arm and a leg, a reunion with the manager who first gave him his chance could be the making of him.
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