Everton Under-21s Head Coach Paul Tait has reflected on a season of learning for his young crop of players – highlighting their run to the semi-final of the Premier League International Cup as the standout moment of the campaign.  

The Under-21s endured a tough spell at the start of the campaign – often having to field Under-18s players due to injuries within the squad.

However, a few months in, their tricky spell was soon overturned when the Toffees won nine out of 13 games between November 7 and March 8, while also taking down league leaders Tottenham in that time.

The upturn in form was down to the return of the more experienced players, says Tait, who recognises the value of having to field a young side at such an early stage.

“You looked at our team at the beginning of the season and we were almost an Under-18s team playing in an Under-21s league,” Tait told evertonfc.com. “That’s never going to look good on results, but the plus side of that was players getting exposed to Under-21s football sooner than they would have.

“We then had quite a few of the younger lads stay with us throughout the season because they’d done such a good job, but our improvement in results was definitely from getting some of the more experienced lads back.”

Their bright form coincided with an impressive run in the Premier League International Cup, losing out to eventual winners Crystal Palace in a semi-final at Selhurst Park.

On their way to the last four, the young Blues dispatched of European opposition, beating Athletic Bilbao, Benfica and Monaco, as well as Fulham in the quarter-finals.

That competition was a highlight of the campaign for Tait, who also points to the individual development of his players as a pleasing part of the season.

“I look back at the International Cup with real fondness,” he said. “I thought that was a really good competition for us.

“Different players are on different journeys, and I think we’ve managed that well this season – those different age groups within the '21s set-up. That’s a testament to the whole staff. It’s a multi-disciplined team who work with the players.

“It’s not just myself and Keith Southern. It’s all the staff throughout the Academy, who help them with the programme in a holistic approach.

“We had lads going out on loan, and I think any experience out on loan is a good experience because they’re learning on and off the pitch so much. Tyler (Onyango) and Reece (Welch) came back to us and helped us. Lewie (Warrington) towards the end of the season, too.

“But there was plenty of learning and developing for all the lads. They’re all on different journeys, and we’ve got the new ones coming through like Harrison Armstrong. He was only 16 when he broke into our team.

“Then you have the lads coming back from loans, who are probably ready for the next step of their journey, which is to go out a play men’s football if they’re not getting in our first team.”

Examples of player progression are easy to come by, whether it’s a title-winning loan spell for Harry Tyrer at Chesterfield, or Under-18s’ forward Coby Ebere stepping into the Under-21s after netting two hat-tricks in the season.

Elsewhere, centre-back Eli Campbell sometimes operated at left-back for the Under-21s in 2022/23, but this season, he captained the side from central defence at just 19-years-old, before heading out on loan in January, making 12 League One appearances at Fleetwood Town.

Looking ahead to next season, Tait expects to have an even younger squad, and is looking forward to working with many of Everton’s Under-18s from this season.

Coached by Leighton Baines, the Under-18s recently finished off their campaign in emphatic style, thrashing Newcastle United 8-0 at Finch Farm on Saturday.

Previewing 2024/25, Tait added: “We’ve sat down and we’ve had a couple of meetings, looking at our squad for pre-season. We know there’ll be a group of players who go up to train with the Senior Team, and that’s great.

"That’ll be a good experience for them, and for the gaffer and the staff to have a close look at them.

“We’ll have a lot of first-year pros coming up from the Under-18s, plus the second-year pros. It’ll be a younger squad and we definitely have something to look forward to, and a lot of potential in there.”