A teenage Merseyside-born midfielder charged towards goal, committing defenders before firing a right footed effort across the goalkeeper and into the back of the net to put his team 3-1 up, scoring his first Premier League goal in the process.
It was 5th December 1999, and a 19-year-old Steven Gerrard had just given the watching world a glimpse of the qualities that he would regularly demonstrate over the next decade and more. Sheffield Wednesday were being put to the sword at Anfield on that day. Just over 10 years later – and just the other side of Stanley Park – Manchester United were about to feel the wrath of the latest all-action midfielder off the Merseyside production line.
To compare 18-year-old Jack Rodwell to Gerrard at such a tender age would surely draw a piercing Scottish stare from David Moyes, but it is a comparison that Everton supporters have been making ever since the Southport-born youngster made his senior debut as a 16-year-old against Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in December 2007, becoming the youngest player to represent the Blues in Europe in the process.
Strong, powerful and already demonstrating leadership qualities, Rodwell’s name has been mentioned in the gossip columns alongside the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United in the recent past, but Moyes is confident that he can hold on to the boyhood Blue, who as of yet has shown no signs of “doing a Rooney.”
Ah yes, Wayne Rooney. Saturday’s clash at Goodison Park was supposed to be all about the return of the once-prodigal son to Merseyside, but he was overshadowed by two players who were still at school when the forward – “once a Blue, always a Blue” – was strutting his stuff at Goodison Park.
Substitute Rodwell – whose 88th minute substitute appearance was enough for him to receive, slightly reluctantly, the man-of-the-match award from Sky Sports pundit Dion Dublin – scored the goal that clinched the win, but it was the strike from his fellow sub, the 20-year-old former Plymouth Argyle midfielder Dan Gosling, that laid the foundations for a deserved late victory.
Whatever Gosling achieves in his career, it is unlikely to eclipse his moment in the sun last season, when he struck two minutes from the end of extra time to beat a 10-man Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round. An error from TV broadcasters meant that many homes around the country lost coverage of the goal at the critical moment, ensuring that they couldn’t see Gosling in the Liverpool penalty area. Manchester United lost him on Saturday too.
Gosling’s finish from a Steven Pienaar cross deservedly put Everton in front on a sunny Merseyside early afternoon when they were more than equals to the title-chasing United. It was a win that could hardly be looked upon as a surprise either, the Blues are top of the Premier League form table, they’ve only lost to one team since mid-November (home and away to Liverpool), they are 2-1 up as they head to Lisbon for a Europa League last-32 tie this week, and they beat Chelsea at their Goodison home in their previous league game.
From looking over their shoulders for the majority of the season, Moyes and Everton are now looking up, with more European football next season a distinct possibility.
With Rodwell and Gosling seemingly improving and developing week by week, the progression of both the club and their young talents is well worth keeping an eye on.
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