Sean Dyche has praised the impact of the young players within Everton’s squad this season and vowed his team are motivated to see out their home schedule with a positive result this weekend against Sheffield United. 

So far this season, 11 players aged 25 or under have featured for Everton, with eight of those making 10 or more appearances in the campaign.

Dyche admitted he’s been delighted with the way in which those prospects have adapted throughout what has been a turbulent season at times, and believes we are now starting to see them help form a strong collective unit within the squad. 

“There are a lot of players I am super pleased with here – the young players,” Dyche told evertonfc.com. “You know, it is not just Jarrad, Jimmy (Garner) has had a good season. Myko continues to develop. Youssef (Chermiti), I thought he did great last week and did well again when he came on, he is adapting. 

“There is a lot of challenges for these players, but they are beginning to come together as a group and we have seen that. And it has rewarded us, of course, and the fans.”

 
Up next for the Toffees is the final home game of the season on Saturday as Dyche’s men take on Sheffield United at Goodison Park (3pm kick-off BST). 

The Blues have already secured their Premier League safety, while the away side’s relegation has been confirmed.

This means the result will not have any major impact on permutations in the Premier League table, yet, Dyche is still demanding his side produce a strong performance and end the campaign at home in front of the Evertonians on a high. 

“I want us to perform and at least give everything as we did at Luton,” he said looking ahead to the weekend. “It doesn’t guarantee you will be brilliant, as I said when I got here, you can’t always guarantee you are brilliant. 

“But you can guarantee you give everything, and that was on show again this past weekend. 

“The minimum requirement is maximum effort. It hasn’t changed, we want to take that into Goodison next week and hope we play a little bit better with the ball, and hopefully score some more goals.”