Premier League giants Everton sent Callum Connolly and Lewis Gibson out on loan to Fleetwood Town and they are both shining in League One.
Two Everton youngsters are earning rave reviews on loan at Fleetwood Town with Cod Army boss Joey Barton paying tribute to both Lewis Gibson and Callum Connolly, in quotes reported by the Gazette.
The Toffees have one of the most prosperous academies in English football right now, having lifted the Premier League 2 title in two of the last three seasons while introducing Tom Davies and Mason Holgate to the first-team picture.
And with Carlo Ancelotti’s squad short of defensive depth, don’t rule out the prospect of Gibson and Connolly featuring in the Premier League on a semi-regular basis in 2020/21.
The highly-rated duo are going from strength to strength elsewhere in the north West, having joined League One title hopefuls Fleetwood in January. And boyhood Evertonian Barton thinks a Merseyside giant have two potential stars on their hands.
“Lewis Gibson looks like a top-level player in the making if he keeps progressing and learning,” Barton says of an England youth star who joined Everton from Newcastle in a £6 million deal when he was just 17.
“But the added bonus has been Callum Connolly. We thought he would give us versatility but every position he’s gone into, he’s just played better. He’s played left centre-half and was superb, then he flipped over to right centre-half and he was superb.”
Gibson and Connolly, should they earn a promotion to Ancelotti’s first-team ahead of next season, will give a veteran Italian plenty of options.
As Barton points out, Connolly is about as versatile a player as you could ask for, equally comfortable in defence or midfield, while Gibson has shone at centre-half and at left-back at youth level.
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