Scouse And Proud

After a 2016 in which he took giant leaps, teenager Tom Davies seemingly has the footballing world at his feet. Primed to make a big impact in the years ahead, he says there is no place he would rather call home…

I think every Scouser should like The Beatles, really. Otherwise, what’s the point in being a Scouser?”

Tom Davies is proud of where he’s from. Proud of his people. Proud to be an Evertonian.

He’s into his music, too. He’s a big fan of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin (“The classics – my mum and dad always played them in the house when I was little”), but especially The Fab Four.

It’s maybe not what you’d expect from an 18-year-old, particularly one found in a Premier League dressing room where R’n’B and hip hop traditionally reign as the genres of choice.

However, Davies is not your typical teenage footballer. That much is quickly apparent as he sits here in the Finch Farm media office, his schoolboy-like position (two chair legs off the floor, back against the wall) the only real pointer to his tender years.

He is one of football’s thinkers, confident but not arrogant; respectful but rarely clichéd. As David Unsworth put it following his first-team debut back in April: “A cool dude.”

If that first senior outing, an accomplished seven-minute cameo against Southampton, brought Davies to the attention of Evertonians the world over, it was his maiden start in the final day 3-0 victory over Norwich City that proved the true indicator of his potential.

Thrown in by Unsworth, caretaker manager for the day and the man who had overseen his transformation from Academy scholar to one of the Under 23's most important players, Davies was fearless, dogged and classy on the ball, too. To borrow from Unsworth again, “a proper Everton central midfielder”.