One of Everton’s most promising starlets looks set to provide a bright spark through to the end of a difficult season after impressing again.
Stanley Mills grabbed his ninth goal of a productive campaign as the club’s Under-21s thrashed Leicester City. He scored his side’s third in a 4-1 away win on Tuesday, finishing after Halid Djankpata’s header was initially saved. Mills had earlier provided an assist for Djankpata as the young Blues dominated.
The 19-year-old has flourished this season, earning his senior debut and impressing both Frank Lampard and Sean Dyche - becoming the only current academy prospect to have made a Premier League matchday squad under both managers this season. Along with striker Tom Cannon, who has taken his sensational U21s form into his loan spell at Preston North End, Mills' emergence has been a rare positive amid a troubling season.
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Mills’ career was turbocharged in the summer when he was a surprise call-up for Everton’s pre-season tour of the USA. He was at home preparing for a joint U18s and U21s summer training camp in York when a WhatsApp message changed everything.
The message told him that Lampard wanted to take him to the US with the first team squad and soon after he was flying to the club’s base in Washington DC. Mills, along with other youth prospects such as Lewis Warrington and Reece Welch, did not just make up the numbers but made it onto the pitch for the games with Arsenal in Baltimore and Minnesota United in St Paul. He was involved in the main flashpoint of the loss to Arsenal, ending up in a row with opposition players that saw James Tarkowski jump to his defence.
The teenager was then involved in further pre-season matches with Blackpool and Dynamo Kyiv before returning to be a major part of the U21s’ run to the last 16 of the Papa John’s Trophy and impressive wins over Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City. Mills created Tom Cannon’s equaliser in the 2-1 win over PSG and scored in the 6-3 victory against City - a brace in the 6-0 Papa John’s demolition of Hartlepool another highlight.
Amid his progress in the U21s, Mills was given his senior debut from the bench in the Carabao Cup win over Fleetwood Town and made it onto the pitch again when Everton were knocked out of that competition by Bournemouth in November. Mills was included in a Premier League matchday squad for the first time against Bournemouth in the league before being part of a second overseas tour in less than six months as he joined Everton’s Sydney Super Cup squad in Australia - earning minutes against both Celtic and Western Sydney Wanderers.
It was during that trip that he spoke to the ECHO about his remarkable rise, explaining: “I don't tend to think about it to be honest, I just turn up, play football, that's what I do, but it's going well at the moment so I will just keep working hard and keep continuing. I'm very happy, it was good to come on in a competitive game [at Bournemouth]. It was a disappointing result but a good personal milestone for me to come on and get more minutes in the first team.”
Over Christmas, Mills was one of a handful of U21s training with the senior squad and who Lampard said he considered to be in the first team mix - only for the club’s descent into crisis to limit opportunities. Dyche’s arrival led to a focus on experience and no academy prospect appeared in the matchday squad for his first 10 games. Mills continued to impress in the U21s, however, scoring against Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
His patience and form was rewarded by the new regime earlier this month - when he and 16-year-old Ishe Samuels-Smith were the first academy starlets to make it into a Dyche Premier League squad. It meant Mills became the first youth player to make league squads under both Lampard and Dyche and offered the latest boost for a player whose rise has been a positive this season. Mills did not get off the bench but the experience failed to slow his rise - he scored the following day in the U21s Merseyside derby against Liverpool.
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