Last weekend was a big one for Ishe Samuels-Smith but while it didn’t work out like the teenage prospect would have hoped, those guiding him on the path to becoming a potential Everton first team player of the future believe he will learn from his testing couple of days.
On Saturday, the player who doesn’t turn 17 until June 5, was included in a Premier League matchday squad for the first time having been named by Sean Dyche among his substitutes for Everton’s home game against Fulham. It was the second time Samuels-Smith had been given bench duty with the senior side having also been picked among the subs when Dyche’s predecessor Frank Lampard made 11 changes for the 4-1 Carabao Cup defeat to Bournemouth back in November.
Had the Manchester-born starlet got on that night, at 16 years and 156 days he’d have been the youngest player in the Blues’ history but a cautionary tale surrounds the current record holder, another left-back Thierry Small. Despite his place in the Everton annals, nobody actually got to see him play.
