On this day in 2021, Thierry Small became the Blues’ youngest-ever player before he ripped up his contract and joined Southampton
The first sight of a rising star is an exciting moment for supporters at any football club. But at Everton, a talked-up young lad making his debut carries extra significance.
Fans of this generation will naturally cast their minds back to Wayne Rooney’s emergence in 2002, when a 16-year-old looked capable of singlehandedly changing the fortunes of an ailing outfit. In the end he did, albeit through the significant sum Everton banked from his sale to Manchester United two years later.
Even so, memories of the tearaway teenager linger at Goodison whenever a young player makes their bow. James Vaughan, Jack Rodwell, Ross Barkley, Tom Davies and more all at some stage looked capable of being frequent first-team players after shining in the academy setup, but it didn’t really work out for any of them.
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In the build-up to 2021, the most exciting young talent in the club’s academy was Thierry Small. He joined the Blues from West Bromwich Albion in 2016 as an 11-year-old and shone in the youth ranks straight away. Clips started to surface of the youngster in Everton social media spaces in 2020 and the left-back looked to have everything – speed, composure and tenacity. That familiar excitement was building again – maybe this tyro can change it all?
In December 2020, when Everton reached the heights of second in the Premier League table, Small was pictured training with the club’s first team. Then boss Carlo Ancelotti was evidently a fan.
“Thierry did well,” Ancelotti said on December 15, 2020. “He is really, really young. He is like a kid, he is only 16 years old, but he has quality and physicality to play with the first team. He is one of our best players in the academy, so I was pleased to bring him to train with us. I think for what he is doing it was good for him, too.”
The comments weren’t just lip service, as just over a month later Small got his first taste of senior football. He was introduced as a late substitute in the 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup and at 16 years, five months and 23 days, became Everton’s youngest player of the post-war era, beating Jose Baxter’s record by 15 days.
“I couldn’t sleep the past two days, just tossing and turning thinking about this day, and it couldn’t have gone any better,” Small told EvertonTV after his debut. “It’s unbelievable, it still hasn’t sunk in properly, it’s one of the best feelings I’ve had in my life, making my family proud after all the hard work we’ve had to put in through the years and the sacrifices.”
It was around this time that speculation started to build about Small’s future. Manchester United, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus were among some of the clubs linked with the left-back and with a professional contract with Everton unsigned, fears started to build about a departure.
In the end, it wasn’t one of the European elite who snared Small away from Everton – it was Southampton. The teenager ripped up his Everton scholarship and made the move to the South coast, much to the surprise of a number of key figures at Goodison. The Toffees, it would appear, were gutted to see him go.
“In fairness to the club, we did everything we possibly could [to keep him],” said David Unsworth, the then Under-23s manager at Everton.
“We made him an unbelievable offer, we didn’t want him to leave. We never envisaged it coming. Up until he actually did leave, we fought really hard to keep him. But when a player doesn’t want to be at your club, it’s very difficult to try and keep him. He’s got his way, and that’s usually the case these days.”
Small said upon completing the move on August 24, 2021 that “[Southampton] is the best place for me to develop as a player and reach new levels to my game.”
As things stand, that development has stalled. Small made just one appearance for Southampton – in the FA Cup in February 2022.
Former Saints manager Ralph Hassenhuttl offered a brutal assessment of the youngster after a loss to RB Leipzig in the following pre-season: “Sometimes you see fantastic things from him and then other times you see horrible things.”
Following on from those comments, Small had three loan spells away from Saints. The first, to Port Vale, was cut short midway through the season after a succession of injury issues and a subsequent lack of minutes. Two temporary switches at St Mirren then followed.
There he was sent off twice for the Scottish Premier League club, although he still made 14 appearances and did enough to earn a recall.
He only made five more appearances in the SPL this year, spending the vast majority of the season on the bench despite being fit. In the end, with his contract at Southampton set to expire, he joined Charlton Athletic in February last year and has gradually started to rebuild his career.
After signing a short-term deal and then scoring on his debut, Small did enough to earn a long-term contract at the Valley. He has since made 40 appearances for the club and is an established first-team player.
So after the perfect launchpad for his career – working under Ancelotti and training alongside the likes of James Rodriguez and Richarlison – proved to be a false dawn the way back to the top flight of English football appears to be slowly gathering pace again for the 20-year-old.
