Tom Davies vows to kick on after Everton breakthrough: 'This is just the start'
Sunday 9 April 2017 15:06, UK
As Everton prepare to face Leicester on Super Sunday, Sky Sports' Patrick Davison meets Toffees youngster Tom Davies to get the lowdown on his breakthrough at Goodison Park and hear how he's determined to "kick on".
The moments before Tom Davies' full Premier League debut seem to sum him up quite well.
With the clock counting down to the biggest hour-and-a-half of his life, he sat there, in the home changing room, nervelessly leafing through the programme, as if he didn't have a care in the world.
Gareth Barry - who admits to being terrified before his own Premier League debut, which came 59 days before Davies was even born - has spoken about being struck by the teenager's poise. This week I got to see a bit of that for myself.
Most young players (and some not so young television reporters) struggle in their first few years in front of a camera.
Davies strolled into his first Super Sunday interview happy and smiling, calm and in control - the same as he's been during his first, whirlwind 12 months as a Premier League footballer.
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"I'm not sure how I managed to remain that calm," says Davies, recalling that sunny afternoon against Norwich at the end of last season.
The game was just days after Roberto Martinez had been sacked, David Unsworth stepped up from the U23s to take caretaker charge and gave a number of his young team the chance to do the same.
"Having the lads round me, having Unsworth as my manager - it just felt like it was meant to be," Davies, who was just 17 at the time, added.
"It was in front of a home crowd, on a nice day and I did well (he was man of the match). So I'll always look back on that day as being big part of my career."
Unsworth knew Davies inside out but Ronald Koeman didn't. Under a new manager, Davies found himself having to breakthrough all over again.
"It's been hard at times, after making my debut at end of last season, I thought I might be a bit more involved but with new manager coming in, I don't think I was ready at the start of this year.
"I'm not sure why, in my head I wanted to play more but if you're not ready, you're not ready. The time I did come in, it was perfect."
That time was at the start of 2017 when, in just his third start under Koeman, he had the day he'd always dreamed of, starring and scoring in the 4-0 hammering of Manchester City.
And the goal wasn't just any goal. It involved a rampaging run from his own half, a sublime flick between Gael Clichy and Yaya Toure and a deft chip over Claudio Bravo.
"I remember watching it go in and thinking 'I've scored here'," says Davies, who was born and bred on Merseyside and joined the Everton academy when he was 11.
"Then it's just joy and elation. You go on to celebrate with everyone - the crowd and then your family after. It's just pure joy, a dream achieved."
It's when discussing this game that Davies shows his first - and only - sign that, despite appearing to take everything in his stride, the journey from schoolboy to Premier League star has, on occasion, left him stunned.
"Sometimes it does all just seem odd. The tunnel at Goodison is tight and suddenly you're standing there next to players like Toure and David Silva, it's crazy. But when you're playing, it feels kind of natural. I'm loving it."
He speaks with a smile that suggests he really is loving it. And when he talks of his upbringing, both at home and in a footballing sense, you begin to understand why he seems to deal with everything thrown at him so effortlessly.
"My brother (Liam, who now plays for Chester) and Dad helped me a lot, those two were an inspiration and I'm really proud of the family," he says grinning again, because he knows he's missed someone out.
"I'm going to have to mention my mum now, she was obviously an inspiration too but more because of the way she looked after me."
She still looks after him too, driving him to training each morning because he's not yet passed his driving test.
Also, it may be his Mum's side that he gets his talent from. Tom's uncle on that side of the family is Alan Whittle, who played for, and won a title with, Everton between 1967 and 1972.
"I used to go round his house and he'd have his medal and he'd tell me stories about his playing days, I wanted the same. Maybe I will be able to tell him a few stories one day."
There's that smile again. It drops just for a second as he returns to the subject of David Unsworth and how the youth coach transformed him into a winner.
"I think when I got to him I was a bit naive and he's taught me a lot about the game so I'm thankful to him," he says.
"We (in the academy) always used to play well and win a lot because we had a good team but when you get to the 23s it's more about winning and Unsy got that into me. It's alright playing nice stuff but it is about winning."
Davies' incredible rise hit another high this week when he signed a new five-year contract. He says though it's, 'just the start'. He says now is the time to, 'kick on'. There is, it would seem, plenty of steel behind the smile.
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