Josh Bowler

Welcome Change For New-Boy Bowler.

- Paul McNamara

Josh Bowler is getting used to doing things differently. For starters, he’d never undergone a full medical until the day last month when he first pitched up at USM Finch Farm.

He arrived through the gates of Everton’s training complex at 9am, unsure of what to expect. And since that day, the 18-year-old winger has been training and running “like never before”. Not that he’s complaining.

In fact, the only part of Bowler’s first month at Everton he would gladly banish from his memory is the initiation song – another first for the new boy from QPR – that he belted out in front of his Under-23 teammates during a pre-season camp in La Manga. He bravely opted for Drake’s Hold On, We’re Going Home and afterwards, declared: “I was nervous but thankfully I don’t have to do it again.”