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Ex-Everton boss Joe Royle says loan spells 'crucial' to players' development

Joe Royle: The former England striker is now Everton's professional development co-ordinator
Image: Joe Royle: The former England striker is now Everton's professional development co-ordinator

​Former Everton boss Joe Royle insists loan spells are a key tool in youngsters' development and not an opportunity to 'offload under-performing players'.

Royle’s current role at Goodison Park - Everton’s professional development co-ordinator - is to organise loan deals for players who have not made the first team or U21 side.

The current situation is forced upon clubs in the absence of all-age reserve teams in the Premier League, but the former Manchester City striker and manager says it’s all part of a modern-day apprenticeship.

You can get players playing serious, hard professional football and they can go away from this place and realise it’s not all as good as this.
Joe Royle

Speaking to the Morning View on Sky Sports News HQ, he said: "We've seen the benefit not only Harry Kane at Tottenham but ourselves with Ross Barkley, Seamus Coleman: they’ve all been out on loan and come back to be first team players.

“You can get players playing serious, hard professional football and they can go away from this place (Everton) and realise it’s not all as good as this. 

“Sometimes, when the apprentices came through the old apprentice system, we used to clean the dressing rooms, clean the toilets, and I’m not advocating it being right, but there was a hardening and seasoning that went with with it, and that seems to be missing a little bit.

'Buffer'

“As a young player at Everton I played in the reserves with six internationals in one game, and I learnt more in that 90 minutes than any amount of training in the previous week. It’s just a little bit missing with no reserve football and the 21s being a little bit of a buffer, if you like.”

Everton's Ross Barkley celebrates scoring his sides third goal of the game during the Barclays Premier League match at Goodison Park, Liverpool
Image: Ross Barkley: Now a fixture in the Everton first team, the 21-year-old had loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United

Many young players may move on loans deals and still miss the cut but according to Royle the question of how to break into the first team has always had the same answer.

“The answer anywhere is quite honestly if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. It didn’t stop Wayne Rooney coming through here when he was 16, Michael Branch played here, when I was in charge, he was 17.

“Players have always broken through when they’re good enough.”

The answer has always been, quite honestly, if you're good enough, you're old enough. Look at Wayne Rooney, he played here when he was 16.
Joe Royle

The process can be harder for young centre-backs and goalkeepers, both positions which tend to be filled by almost immovable incumbents and which are generally thought to be better filled with more mature, experienced players.

“For goalkeepers it’s harder because there’s only one position to go for,” Royle said. “And centre backs also tend to hang around. There’s an argument that would say probably the best English centre-back is probably the oldest one at the moment, John Terry, so he’s going to take some replacing.”

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