Everton youngster heads out on season-long loan

Youngster Kieran Dowell has just about done it all within the Everton youth setup. After being a mainstay for David Unsworth’s teams for the last couple of seasons, he capped off an astonishing 2016-17 season with the Premier League 2 and Under-20 World Cup trophies with Everton’s Under-23 team and England respectively.

However, we won’t be making his first-team breakthrough just yet.

The Ormskirk-born forward has joined Championship side Nottingham Forest on a season long loan for manager Mark Warburton. Former Everton defender David Weir is his assistant manager and knows Dowell very well from his time coaching the Toffees academy and reserve teams.

Despite being in sizzling form during the preseason where he scored twice, both from long-distance, Dowell was sent down to the Under-23 side just before Everton’s Europa League qualifier against MFK Ruzomberok last week.

Dowell signed a new three-year contract in June 2016, less than two months after the youngster made his debut in the Premier League in a 2-1 win over Bournemouth, and got his first full start in the last game of last season, a 3-0 defeat of Norwich City at Goodison Park. He has 27 England youth international caps, and has appeared for Everton twice in the Premier League and once in the Europa League.

Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Forest barely survived the drop from the Championship last season, winning 3-0 on the last day to eliminate Blackburn Rovers instead by just two goals of goal difference. Dowell will team up with former Blue Apostolos Vellios in Nottingham, with a chance to truly stake his claim to a senior squad spot next season with extended playing time this season.