Skip to content
Everton youngster continues 18-year tradition as first-team chance nears
Everton’s highly-rated youth talent Ishe Samuels-Smith was part of the England Under-17 team that recently finished fifth in the UEFA Under-17 European Championships.
The young defender has been turning some heads throughout this campaign, making 14 appearances for the Under-21 squad as well as making the bench for the senior side on two occasions.
The 16-year-old is just another example of an Everton academy talent making it on the youth international stage. To celebrate this achievement, we have taken a look at some of the most prominent examples of players who represented England at this tournament while coming through the Toffees’ youth system over the last 20 years and where their careers have taken them since.
READ MORE: Onana claims Doucoure was ‘disrespected’ and sheds new light on Everton incident
READ MORE: Jordan Pickford pays tribute to ‘top servant’ leaving Everton and makes Goodison admission
Morgan Feeney – 2016
Morgan Feeney was selected for England for the 2016 edition of the tournament in which the Three Lions made it to the round of 16 stage, where they were narrowly defeated 1-0 by Spain.
He became captain of Everton’s Under-23s squad in 2017, while still only 18 and was also named their Player of the Season that campaign.
The centre-back made one senior start during his time with the Toffees in a dead rubber Europa League tie away at Apollon Limassol before being released in 2020.
A brief spell at Sunderland passed without Feeney making an appearance before he was picked up by League Two outfit Carlisle United. He has become a first-team regular at Brunton park, although a hamstring injury has ruled him out for the last few weeks of the season.
Tom Davies – 2015
Tom Davies played 18 times for his country at Under-17 level and was one of the more obvious choices for their squad at the Euros in 2015 where England were again beaten 1-0 at the round of 16 stage, this time by Russia.
Later that year, he captained the Under-17s side for the World Cup and was even invited to train with the senior side by manager Roy Hodgson.
He broke into the Everton first team the following year and has been in and around the squad ever since, making 179 appearances and scoring seven goals, most memorably his solo strike in a 4-0 trouncing of Manchester City in January 2017. It remains to be seen whether the midfielder will still be at Goodison Park next season, with his contract due to expire this summer
Ryan Ledson – 2014
Fresh from winning the Blues’ Academy Player of the Season, Ryan Ledson captained England Under-17s for the Euros in 2014 which they went on to win and the central midfielder was named in UEFA’s Team of the Tournament.
The ceiling was clearly very high for Ledson, but he never fulfilled his potential in an Everton shirt and made just one senior appearance for the club in a dead rubber Europa League match against Krasnodar, before joining Oxford United for an undisclosed fee in 2016.
He quickly impressed at the Yellows, making 80 appearances during his time at the club, and winning the Supporters’ Player of the Year award as well as Young Player of the Year and Goal of the Season at the end of his second season.
This earned him a move up to the Championship with Preston North End and he remains at Deepdale, making 43 appearances and scoring once this season.
Jonjoe Kenny – 2014
In that same successful Euros team in 2014, Everton had another representative in the form of Jonjoe Kenny.
The right-back enjoyed more success at Goodison Park than his teammate Ledson, making his first-team debut off the bench in a 3-0 win over Norwich City at the end of the 2015/16 season.
He made a second substitute appearance the following campaign before playing 67 times for the club across the next five seasons as well as spending time on loan at Schalke and Celtic.
He was offered a new contract in the summer of 2022 after impressing manager Frank Lampard, but Kenny opted to instead sign for Hertha Berlin where he has made 28 appearances so far this season.
Hallam Hope – 2011
Hallam Hope was coming through at Everton when he finished as joint-top scorer at the 2011 Under-17 European Championships as England crashed out to the Netherlands in the semi-finals.
He was named Academy Player of the Season the following season but never made a senior appearance for the Toffees and an impressive loan spell at Bury persuaded them to part with £100k to sign him in 2015.
Hope failed to hit the ground running on permanent basis at Gigg Lane, scoring only six times in 64 matches before joining Carlisle United in 2017 where he spent two-and-a-half years and was the club’s top goalscorer for the first two seasons there.
18 months at Swindon Town followed before he was snapped up by Oldham Athletic and the striker currently plays under Everton icon David Unsworth.
Ross Barkley – 2010
Whether you love him or hate him, Ross Barkley is indisputably one of the Everton Academy’s greatest success stories in recent years.
He was one of England’s star players as they triumphed at the Under-17 Euros in 2010, scoring twice en route to them winning 2-1 in the final against Spain, whose goal was scored by former fan favourite for Everton, Gerard Deulofeu.
Barkley was in and around the first team for the following years before becoming a first-team regular between 2013 and 2017, playing 179 times, scoring 27 goals and earning 28 assists before controversially departing for Chelsea in the winter of 2018 for £15m.
He never really earned his place at Stamford Bridge but did enjoy a moderately successful loan spell at Aston Villa during the 2020-21 season. The attacking midfielder now plys his trade in France with OGC Nice.
Luke Garbutt – 2010
Luke Garbutt was also part of the England youth squad that saw success at the 2010 edition.
The year before the tournament, the promising left-back had been snapped up from Leeds United’s academy for a tribunal fee of £600k and remained on Everton’s books until 2020, making just 12 senior appearances in that time.
He went out on six different loan spells during his time at Goodison, with varying degrees of success before he left for Blackpool on a permanent basis, aged 27.
Garbutt has made 63 appearances in three years for the Tangerines and we’re still not sure if Carlo Ancelotti knows who he is!
Jose Baxter – 2009
Jose Baxter was part of England’s Under-17s side that failed to qualify out of the group stage of the 2009 Euros.
His story is one of the sadder on this list as he went from being the third youngest player to ever start a Premier League match in 2008, to being suspended for failing a drugs test in 2015.
Having made 15 appearances in four years for the Toffees, he rejected a new deal in 2012 and joined Oldham Athletic where he spent a successful year, scoring 17 times before reuniting with former Everton youth manager David Weir at Sheffield United. Baxter was suspended by the Blades on two occasions over failed drug tests and was released in 2016.
A brief return to Everton followed in 2017 and he then endured several fruitless spells with Oldham, Plymouth and American side Memphis 901 before hanging up his boots in 2021, aged just 29. He now works as an Academy Assistant for the Toffees.
James Vaughan – 2005
James Vaughan played in the England Under-17s when they were knocked out at the group stage in Italy in 2005.
The pacy forward had just become the Premier League’s youngest ever goalscorer when he came off the bench to score in a 4-0 demolition of Crystal Palace towards the end of the 2004/05 season.
A string of injuries restricted his progress at Goodison Park and he left in 2011, having made 60 appearances and scoring nine goals.
He became something of a journeyman for the rest of his career, enjoying success at Bury, Bradford City and Tranmere Rovers, before retiring in 2021. He returned to Everton last year as their Loan Pathways Manager.
READ NEXT
