Goodison Park now reeling from Koeman's big Everton mistake on £20m "livewire" - opinion

Everton’s youth academy has produced a number of top talents in the Premier League era, including the likes of Wayne Rooney, Tony Hibbert and Leon Osman who all had lengthy Premier League careers.

More recently, Tom Davies, Jonjoe Kenny and Anthony Gordon have all become first team regulars after graduating from the academy, while the likes of Jarrad Branthwaite, Lewis Dobbin and Isaac Price are both tipped to become first-team players for the club in the future.

One player that could have come through the U18s and U23s though is Nottingham Forest star Brennan Johnson, who was linked with a £1m move to play for Ronald Koeman at Goodison Park back in 2017 when he was 15.

Now aged 20, Forest are believed to want £20m for the creative midfielder, who has already made 94 senior appearances, scoring an impressive 24 goals, creating nine more.

The drastic change in valuation, a 1900% increase to be exact, is not only evidence of Johnson’s huge potential, but also of his exciting development already in his career.

This season, the Wales international has made 35 appearances in the Championship, scoring ten times and assisting six, averaging a 7.02 as his club target promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs.

Taking 1.8 shots per game on average as well as making 1.2 key passes, he has established himself as one of the most dangerous threats in the second tier, while he has also impressed greatly in the FA Cup, including in the fourth round when he scored against rivals Leicester City to help his team to a 4-1 victory at home.

Described as a “livewire” by Wales Online, Johnson has earned praise all season for his performances, including from England and Manchester United legend David Beckham, who posted after the FA Cup