OPINION
Sam Allardyce shared that Nikola Vlasic is one of many young Everton players that he wants to see flourish next season, but he should be featuring in the games that remain.
The Toffees manager commented on the 20-year-old attacking midfielder revealing it had been a difficult season for him, which is true, and suggested that he could feature more next season.
“It’s been a difficult season for him,” Allardyce said, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo.
“We’ve had so many young players – and this is also a forgotten chapter of this season – and yet we hear people say we don’t play young players.
“But this season, for one reason or another but particularly injuries and a loss of form, more young players have played in Everton’s team than anybody else in the entire Premier League.
“So, when you talk about Vlasic, it’s another young player and their confidence may suffer so it’s his first season here and next season we would like to see more of those young talents flourish.”
Vlasic signed for the Toffees in the summer from Hajduk Split for £10million, according to the BBC, and has made 16 appearances in his debut season.
The attacking midfielder, who can also play as a winger on either wing, showed glimpses of what he was capable of in these outings.
Vlasic tries to utilise his dazzling dribbling ability and pace in order to go past players to create goalscoring opportunities.
While all two of his goals for the Toffees have come in the Europa League, with him failing to score in any of his nine Premier League appearances, he has still shown enough ability to warrant making the Toffees squad in the league.
There’s no reason why the exciting 20-year-old shouldn’t be making the bench in order for him to make brief appearances, which would allow him to boost his side’s attacking options.
Allardyce has left him out of his squad for the Toffees’ last five league games, despite his side looking short of ideas going forward.
The Toffees have scored six goals in their last five league outings, but this is misleading as three of those goals came during the rare win against Crystal Palace.
Now it’s all well and good that Allardyce is backing Vlasic to flourish next season, however given his attacking qualities the 20-year-old should be featuring for his side now.
As not playing isn’t helping him or the Toffees, so there’s no reason to wait until next season to see the best from him.