Everton staff left surprised by summer signing after deal appeared to come out of nowhere

Tim Iroegbunam continued his bright start to his Everton career with a positive display against Brighton & Hove Albion. On what was a tough opening day for the Blues, the 21-year-old was one of the few positives.

Iroegbunam’s impact has surprised the staff at Everton. While the deal appeared to come out of nowhere at the start of the summer, the player was left with the impression director of football Kevin Thelwell knew plenty about him when they held initial talks over a move from Aston Villa over Zoom when the player was on holiday in Greece.

Injuries around Iroegbunam have led to an opportunity he has seized with both hands.

Amid the fallout from Brighton, Sean Dyche had high praise for the midfielder, saying: “He did very well, I thought he had a really strong pre-season.

“He is one of the new players who has experienced Premier League football and also the Championship and he looks more game ready for what the Premier League is likely to offer - higher physicality, need to work both ways and not just attacking but defending and finding that mixture.

“I thought he was excellent. I thought he had a really strong pre-season and I am really pleased with him because he is a young player who looks like he is enjoying playing.”

Omari Benjamin withstands pressure to deliver in the final moments

Iroegbunam was not the only youngster to impress in Royal Blue.

In the second half of Everton Under-21s’ season opener, most of the shouts from the Blues dugout were directed at new signing Omari Benjamin. The Arsenal academy product was one of several relatively high-profile youth deals made by the club over the course of the summer, with the move to make his signing permanent following a successful trial at the tail end of the last campaign.

Against Blackburn Rovers on Friday night there were times when the forward, who was playing wide left as the U21s mirrored the formation used by Dyche with the first team, struggled to get into the game. But manager Paul Tait and his team persevered and were impressed with Benjamin's response to a challenging game.

The Wales youth international fought hard even when finding it tough to pose an attacking threat - throwing his body in the way of a shot inside his own box as Blackburn sought to complete a comeback in the second half.

The defensive demand on the 18-year-old was heavy but he earned his reward in the closing stages when he showed his pace and intelligence to create the goal for Martin Sherif that sealed the 3-1 win.

After the match, Tait spoke of how pleased he was with Benjamin, telling the ECHO: “His work rate and out of possession stuff is very good in terms of what we demand. He is not just a winger who is allowed to stand up there. He tracks his full-back and he does that really diligently but we said at half-time we wanted to try and get him in the game a bit more because we couldn’t get him in the game, we couldn’t get him down the left much, so we tweaked it a little bit and got him more on the ball and it worked.

“We saw a lot more of him and we saw in his break at the end that he has got real pace and real power but that he is also quite clever and it was good timing when he played Martin through.”

Hopes U21s might be more competitive after struggles of last season

For me, Everton goalkeeper George Pickford was the man of the match on Friday - an indication of how much Blackburn tried to find a route back into the game - but Isaac Heath also impressed. The 19-year-old opened the scoring in the second minute, finishing after right-back Roman Dixon pulled the ball back.

Heath could have had a few more and was a threat throughout, including when he was moved inside from the right wing in the closing stages.

The teenager had a tricky year last season and his challenge was representative of the wider issues faced by an U21s side that relied on talent at the lower range of the age group to make up for the departures of senior academy players - either on loan like Lewis Warrington and Stanley Mills, who were sold like Tom Cannon, or who ended up involved in the first-team squad like Jenson Metcalfe and Mackenzie Hunt.

Those younger players struggled to compete in Premier League 2 as a result but there is a hope that this season they will be better placed to battle with older U21s players.

On this, Tait said: “We are really, really delighted with Isaac. He had a patchy season last season, but what he can do is he can handle the ball, he can twist and turn onto both feet and I think the extra 12 months physically, he’s got that extra yard of pace now, so I was delighted with him, I thought he looked a real threat.

“I think that extra year in terms of the first year pros from being scholars is quite a big jump physically and mentally and they understand now what is expected, especially when they come up in the open age games, the EFL Cup and stuff.

“The EFL Cup is always a massive test for us, physicality and the mentality. Hopefully we will be better equipped [this season].”

Everton teen gets FPL surprise

One player Tait did not have available to him against Blackburn was Harrison Armstrong, the 17-year-old who had exposure in the U21s last season but has spent the summer with the senior team.

The box-to-box midfielder has enjoyed a remarkable few months that have seen him sign a new deal and earn senior pre-season minutes - including grabbing a goal in the behind-closed-doors friendly against Motherwell.

Armstrong made the bench for the Premier League opener against Brighton and his involvement in the first team in recent weeks has now led to him having a profile on the hugely popular Fantasy Premier League game - Armstrong available for £4.5m, the same price as Chelsea’s £58m signing Romeo Lavia.

Forward prospect makes perfect start

Everton's Under-18s also made a winning start to the campaign, beating Stoke City 2-1 at Finch Farm on Saturday.

Northern Ireland youth international Braiden Graham, another of the several forwards signed across Everton’s ranks this summer, supplied an assist and a goal in the win as he launched his time with Blues in positive fashion.

The striker, now aged 16, was signed from Linfield, where he made his senior debut at just 15.

After playing in the U19s Euros with Northern Ireland this summer he could not have started life on Merseyside any better.