Seasons2019-20Everton News

Dobbin proud to sign pro forms with Everton

Thursday, 9 January, 2020 24comments  |  Jump to last
Lewis Dobbin has become the latest of Everton's Under-18s side to sign his first professional contract with the club.

The 17-year-old striker agreed a two-and-a-half-year contract this week that ties him to the club until the summer of 2022 by which time he will have been with the Blues for almost a decade.

Stoke-born Dobbin who has six goals for the U18s this season, told the official site: “Signing a first pro deal is a really proud moment for me and my family and shows hard work can pay off.

“I really want to push for more in future.

“My family have helped me a lot through my whole time playing football. They have made a lot of sacrifices for me and their dedication has paid off in this moment.  

Reader Comments (24)

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Ajay Gopal
1 Posted 09/01/2020 at 17:12:41
It is nice to read the humble comments from this lad and the other fella the other day - both attributing their success to their families' support. Hope they stay grounded and focused to become footballers who can realise their full potential, and hopefully, one day play for the Everton senior team.
Jimmy Hogan
2 Posted 09/01/2020 at 17:18:30
Unfortunate name. At first I thought it was going to be a humorous piece about us signing a cart horse.
Duncan McDine
3 Posted 09/01/2020 at 17:18:38
Good luck! I struggle to keep up to date on our young prospects, so haven't heard of this guy yet, but his surname has the ‘tell-tale‘ signs of someone good ‘on-the-grass' of a football snitch... I mean pitch.
My coat is already on
Alan J Thompson
4 Posted 09/01/2020 at 17:28:55
So he must have been with us for about 7-8 years from the age of 10?
I know the rewards if you make it is the stuff of dreams but it must put a lot of pressure on the family coming from outside of Liverpool. Does anyone know how much training these kids have to do at what age? Good luck, lad.
Derek Knox
5 Posted 09/01/2020 at 17:33:40
Well done Lewis keep developing and you could be in the first team squad before you know it.

Duncan @3, with all due respect to the lad's surname, we had 10 Dobbins playing on Sunday, Eeyore! :-)

Steve Ferns
6 Posted 09/01/2020 at 18:02:17
This lad is the real deal. I've been watching him whenever I can for a year now. Bayern Munich have been after him and a host of other European Clubs.

He plays up top, or left of a front three. He's similar to Richarlison in that way. However the player I'd say he's most like is James Vaughan. He's stocky, he's lightning fast, not quite as powerful as Vaughan was but he's got more tricks in his locker and better technique. He doesn't just rely on pace and power to score. He can beat a man, and cutting inside from the left onto his right, he just seems to blow past central defenders. The lad needs to keep going, to keep his head screwed on and the sky is the limit

He's scored 6 in 10 u18s games so far this season and even been in the u23s at the age of 16. His highlight was making the bench for a league trophy game (ie professional) against Mansfield.

Well done young man. Enjoy every second of it. We're all behind you.

Steve Ferns
7 Posted 09/01/2020 at 18:11:28
Sorry it was Burton Albion. Here's Unsworth in the Echo raving about the lad:
Link

The other one, with big potential, is Tyler Onyango and he's not 17 until March, and he's already a mainstay of the u23s. He's not as flashy as Dobbin, but the fact he's 16 and hardly looks out of place speaks volumes.

Brent Stephens
8 Posted 09/01/2020 at 18:14:50
Really impressed with Onyango. He looked at home in U23s from the start.
Steve Ferns
9 Posted 09/01/2020 at 18:18:49
Brent, how big is he now? He looks huge, but that's huge amongst kids. And if he's huge at 16, just how tall is he going to be? The comparisons with similarly tall, Patrick Vieira are easily made. They play the same position and Tyler is clearly trying to emulate him. He's a mouthwatering prospect. Most of the battle will be keeping his feet on the ground and keeping him working hard.
Brent Stephens
10 Posted 09/01/2020 at 18:40:17
Steve, a big lad in height and weight. A man already. I've not seen him have a bad game yet.
Phill Thompson
11 Posted 09/01/2020 at 18:46:11
The nice thing about young Dobbin is that he's shown he can play and score in three attacking positions. He looked good supporting Simms while playing on the right in an u18 game last season, and he's scored a raft of goals for England u15/ 16/17 coming in from the left and as a straight 9. A Gordon/Simms/Dobbin would be an interesting U23s attack sometime this season.
Steve Ferns
12 Posted 09/01/2020 at 18:47:45
He looked out of his depth against Barton's butchers when Fleetwood kicked Baningime out of the game. They clattered him 3 times in a couple of minutes and the final time made sure he wasn't getting back up and running it off. Onyango came on for him and looked scared.
Brent Stephens
13 Posted 09/01/2020 at 18:51:03
Steve I think Fleetwood is a bit of a different proposition! Butchers indeed.
Steve Ferns
14 Posted 09/01/2020 at 18:58:54
Phill, I believe that he also played off Tom Cannon in the Newcastle game, when he scored 2, and local lad (but Irish International) Cannon scored just one (for his 11th goal in 9 games!). There was no highlights for that one though.
Phill Thompson
15 Posted 09/01/2020 at 19:04:25
Steve, yeah Cannon has been the nice surprise this season, a times grabbing the headlines from Dobbin with his goals and as you say they've formed a good partnership.
We can't get too carried away at their ages, but putting it into perspective, in his first season Simms struggled to get into the u18s initially, whereas these two are regular goalscorers..
Steve Ferns
16 Posted 09/01/2020 at 19:09:47
I would say that Lewis Dobbin is the one who grabs the attention as he has the speed, the tricks, and is the most video friendly (as in someone can make him look like a young Messi with a YouTube compilation), whereas Tom Cannon just seems to keep popping up in the right place and taping them in. He's no goal hanger though and can slot them home with precision from the edge of the box.

Who do you prefer Phil?

Steve Ferns
17 Posted 09/01/2020 at 19:17:43
Also, what about Bobby Carroll. I liked the look of him, but he's been out injured and I saw him on twitter from a hospital bed saying he'd had an operation. I hope he's back fit soon.

Any idea what happened to MacKenzie Hunt? He was a decent centre-mid for the u18s last season and Tyler Onyango and Einar Iversen seem to have leapfrogged him as he's barely featured for the u23s. I liked what I saw of him, and wanted to see if he could step up a level.

Dave Abrahams
18 Posted 09/01/2020 at 19:33:13
Steve (17), MacKenzie Hunt played in the F.A. youth cup game versus Derby County this season along with Dobbin, Hunt has been injured and that game was one of the few he played in this season. The less said about that game, the better, in my opinion, although Phill (15) has a different point of view on that game, and he could be right.
Phill Thompson
19 Posted 09/01/2020 at 19:34:21
Yeah Dobbin for me is the stand out, been following his progress through the England ranks, which is always a good indicator. I think you've covered his talents comprehensively, can't add much to that! It's his skill level and speed which excites me.
There was a photo of him celebrating after he scored against West Brom with Onyango joining in and intriguingly a third player is shown who I think is a Schoolboy attacker, Katia Kouyate, one to look out for next season!
Phill Thompson
20 Posted 09/01/2020 at 19:42:10
Haha Dave (18) you really need to let that Youth Cup defeat go :-), if you thought they weren't trying I'd hate to have been within earshot of you on Sunday night.
I continue to be quite forgiving of the inconsistencies you get with our youngsters, less so with their overpaid elders!
Dave Abrahams
21 Posted 09/01/2020 at 20:21:42
Phill (20), you should have heard me when they played Arsenal, I was shouting at both teams in that rubbish of a game!!!

Against Liverpool, watching on tv, first half we provided some moments to think we could win, the second half I was just speechless, we offered nothing, except my ticker going on the blink looking at that disgrace of trying to play football.

Against Derby County in the F.A. youth game you could be right in me forgetting it, but to me winning that cup is always a cup we should be striving to win, there didn't seem to me, to be anyone bursting their gut to try and win the game.

Mark Daley
22 Posted 10/01/2020 at 09:38:22
(Like Jimmy Hogan) I assumed it was Dobbin the horse, being brought it to shore up the midfield. Well, a clapped out old nag would still be an improvement. It could do a job swap with Schneiderlin, who could deliver the milk instead.
Peter Gorman
23 Posted 10/01/2020 at 21:58:08
You'd trust Schneiderlin to deliver the milk?
Jack Convery
24 Posted 11/01/2020 at 11:18:24
ee or to do well - I'll get my coat.

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