Sean Dyche believes Harrison Armstrong has the potential to break through at Everton – but said club captain Seamus Coleman was ensuring he does not get complacent
Harrison Armstrong is learning some of his lessons the hard way as he continues to impress at Everton – with Seamus Coleman making sure he does not get ahead of himself. The teenager has enjoyed a stunning rise to the first team setup and, according to Sean Dyche has an “edge” that gives him a chance of genuinely breaking through to the senior side from the academy.
But Dyche said club captain Coleman was making sure he did not get ahead of himself as he provided insight from behind the scenes before the veteran picked up the hamstring injury that ruled him out of Republic of Ireland duty during the international break.
Dyche said: “He got a bit of Seamus before his injury, which made me laugh – he was trying to be a bit chipper and Seamus gave him the Everton look and the Everton words. I just burst out laughing – I said ‘Harrison, there you go son’, that is coaching in itself. He said ‘OK gaffer’. He is learning the respect of football and that is important. There is a big respect and I make sure they understand that here, and that is from Seamus going all the way through the group… He got his taste straight from the horse’s mouth and I found it was very amusing.”
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Dyche would not reveal the finer details of what happened but threw it in among a round of real praise for Armstrong, the 18-year-old who made his first team debut at Tottenham Hotspur in August and has since been called up to the England Under-18s.
That debut followed a pre-season in which the box-to-box midfielder took advantage of injuries ahead of him to make an impression when called up to first team training.
Dyche opened up on Armstrong’s progress after lauding the success of teammate Dwight McNeil, who now has 215 Premier League appearances since Dyche introduced him to the first team at Burnley aged just 18. Asked whether there was anyone in the Everton academy who could have a similar breakthrough, Dyche said it was tough and that “with all due respect to Burnley there is a bigger demand here”.
But he went on to say: “I think Harrison has got the make up. He is still young, he is training with us virtually all the time – his games programme is still with the Under-21s at times – but I like what I am seeing with him and I think he has got the edge. He is getting what Everton is about, even from his little taste of it and being around it. He is the one at the moment who has come out of the pack.”
Dyche also highlighted the progress of teenage right back Roman Dixon, who also made his senior debut at Spurs. The Blues boss said that move came early for Dixon because of injuries to first team players, but added the defender had “showed little glimmers and signs”. Both players could be provided opportunities to continue their development on loan in January.
Adding to his comments on Armstrong he said: “Harrison has shown really strong signs of pushing every day, working in training and showing what he is about. Getting his shoulders back and showing a bit of freedom in and amongst the first team players.”
Dyche went on to explain the injuries felt in a “stretched” first team squad had provided valuable opportunities for younger players this season, He said: “Because we have had so many injuries and the team has been stretched some of the young players have got a great feel of it, they haven’t always been on the pitch but they have been around it, they have travelled with us, dealt with the demands of me and my staff, been in team meetings. It is a big learning curve. These lads get a lot of information and that can only be good for them.”
