Young Blues Fly Out For Dallas Cup

Ross Barkley in Everton's Under-19 squad for Texas tournament.

Ross Barkley heads an Everton Under-19 squad which has flown to the USA with Dallas Cup glory in their sights.

The midfielder, who made his first-team debut earlier this season, is joined in the travelling party by reserve-team regulars Tyias Browning, Eric Dier, John Lundstram, Femi Orenuga and Ibou Touray, while the rest of the squad will be made up of Academy youngsters.

The squad, which will be overseen by Academy Head of Coaching Neil Dewsnip and Under-18s boss Kevin Sheedy, flew out to the States today ahead of their opening game against Brazilian outfit Coritiba on Sunday.

The young Blues will then face Kashiwa Reysol of Japan on Monday before completing the group phase of the competition against Bolivians Club Bolivar next Wednesday.

Should they progress, Everton will go straight into the semi-finals where they could be joined by the likes of Manchester United, Paris St Germain, Tigres, Eintracht Frankfurt or the Mexico Under-20 international team.

The Dallas Cup is the USA's oldest youth football competition, with boys aged 12 to 19 competing in seven different age groups.

Previous winners include Manchester United, Real Madrid and Sao Paulo.

Full Everton Dallas Cup squad: Jake Adelson, Ross Barkley, Tyias Browning, Eric Dier, Courtney Duffus, Anton Forrester, Conor Grant, Russell Griffiths, Johan Hammar, Hallam Hope, Jasper John, Gethin Jones, Chris Long, John Lundstram, Tom Molyneux, Femi Orenuga, Matthew Pennington, Oliver Shannon, Ibou Touray, George Waring

Look out on evertonfc.com for news of how are youngsters are faring.