Everton are clearly making moves towards securing a brighter, more sustainable future for the club.
Having been scouring the youth market intensely in recent years, it is clear that a vast change has been decided upon from those above.
Kevin Thelwell, whilst he has made great strides towards securing the long-term future of the club, will likely see youth production and their eventual sales as the most profitable and easiest way of getting the club back on financial track.
So, to help ease that process, a new appointment has seemingly been made.
And he might be a familiar face to most…
Everton appoint new Head of Youth Recruitment
The latest on this position is detailed by The Secret Scout, who claim to have an exclusive, which they detailed on X.
Penning the following Tweet late last night, they wrote: ‘EXCLU: James Vaughan has been appointed as Everton’s new Head of Youth Recruitment. #EFC The former striker moves across from his role as Loans Manager. #Everton are looking to be more aggressive in scouting future talents across the UK’.
This would see the former Everton striker move across from his current role as Loans Pathways Manager, which he has occupied since 2022.
James Vaughan knows all about breaking into the first-team
Well, if anyone is going to have the intelligence to identify talent worthy of breaking into the Premier League at a young age, it is surely the 35-year-old who broke records during his spell as a youngster.
After all, handed his chance by David Moyes back in 2005, Vaughan would shock the footballing world as he bundled home what remains to this day a landmark goal.
At 16 years and 271 days, he is still the division’s youngest-ever goalscorer.
And whilst he would endure a career later laden with injuries, bouncing around the football pyramid with varying success, he remains a pretty well-liked figure on Merseyside, having made 61 appearances for the Goodison Park outfit, and in total 414 across a career which saw him enjoy spells at Bury, Wigan Athletic and Crystal Palace.
Especially since he assumed his current role as Loan Pathways Manager, having likely taken the credit for sending Jarrad Branthwaite out to PSV where he honed his skills in time to now shine for Sean Dyche, even if it came a week or so before his actual appointment.
This new role likely makes far more sense than the controller of loans, as he can now work with scouts to identify players capable of taking the next step into first-team football, just as he did all those years ago.
