Everton youngster Thierry Small appears to be trying to engineer his way out of the club, following reports from The Athletic.
Everton fan podcast The Toffee Blues (@EvertonNewsFeed) took to Twitter to deliver the update to Evertonian followers.
According to the report, the youngster has snubbed a ‘bumper’ offer in a professional contract and did not report to USM Finch Farm for pre-season training last week, as was expected by club officials.
The left-back can only pen a professional deal on August 1 when he turns 17, as per league rules.
Small has been previously linked with Arsenal and has been previously hailed as the best player in the country of his age group in his position.
The same report from The Athletic lists European giants Bayern Munich and Manchester United as the latest clubs to circle for the youngster’s services.
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Given that Small carries a reputation as something of a prodigy in his age bracket, it should come of little surprise that the 16-year-old appears to have had his head turned by other clubs.
To some degree, his future hinges upon Rafa Benitez; a willingness from the Spaniard to integrate youth into his plans could see the likes of Small joining fellow youngster Niels Nkounkou as options to deputise for France international Lucas Digne.
Digne was injured on international duty, with the injury described as ‘very complicated’.
The worrying uncertainty over the nature of Digne’s injury only exacerbates the need to have a reliable stock of left-back options.
