Everton right-back Jonjoe Kenny has revealed that he asked boss Marco Silva if he could play for the Under-23s earlier this season.
Kenny has broken into Silva’s first team recently after Seamus Coleman suffered a foot injury, but this was not the case at the start of the season when he was on the bench regularly.
This is when the defender asked whether he could play for the Under-23s against Swansea in August – despite having the chance to feature in the first team against Bournemouth – in order to get some minutes under his belt.
“I asked to play the ‘23s game to get some minutes on the pitch. I spoke with the manager about it. It was not for anyone else, it was for me,” he told the club’s official website.
“I wanted to get as much as I could in the bank. And it was a good job I did, it helped me physically and I felt a lot better going into the Rotherham game.”
OPINION
It comes as no surprise that Kenny was asking for some game time with the under-23s when they played Swansea. As a young player like himself, there is no doubt that he would be seeking more minutes on the pitch – and he was just not getting that at the start of the season when Seamus Coleman was fit. Since Coleman got injured, Kenny has deputised for him excellently, and he has really demonstrated to Silva that he is able to play well on a regular basis. However, when Coleman does eventually return from his setback, it remains to be seen whether he will be able to keep his starting place. It would be rather unfair to oust him to the bench after how he has progressed in the Toffees’ first team, which means that Silva has a bit of a selection headache on his hands. Nevertheless, he must be rather smug about the fact that he has two quality players to call upon in the right-back role.