 Welcome to Toffy TV, this video has brought you in association with the Athletic where you can get a seven day trial at the moment and 50% of your annual subscription if you want to, go and check it out. You might say well, seven days for you, go and check it out, have a little look see if you like it, if you don't like it, there you go, if you do like it you can get 50% off. The link is in the description if you want to check that out, they've got some excellent writers, ever some writers Paddy Boyle Lund and Gregor Keith, they'll be giving you all the insight to what's going on at the moment, they have a podcast as well. There's loads of other footy stuff on there, loads of other sports if you're interested in all the American sports, they've got them well covered, that's where they all started in America. So check that out, the link is in the description and there is a story on there at the moment regarding Mason Hulgate and how if there is a potential incoming centre back, Mason Hulgate could be the preferred player to play alongside that player, whoever that player could be. Whoever it is. Yeah, the article mainly by Paddy Boyle Lund is talking about how Hulgate established himself under Carlo Ancelotti, started 10 of the 11 games under Ancelotti in the Premier League. And he's done really well, and he's done really well all season, in all fairness, since he got in the side, came into the team October time I think it was. Obviously, Jeri Mina and Michael Keane started the season. And the article says, you know, that everything were very much looking at bringing someone in like K2, well, they were looking at bringing K2, they're not someone like K2. And then obviously there was for Caio Tymori as well who we thought we were getting on loan, there was an inquiry. Excuse me, there was an inquiry for Marcus Roho on Deadline Day and Chris Smallen as Marcus Silver was looking for another centre back. And I think Hulgate, you know, had a really good time at West Bromadni, the back end of the last season and he came back and we watched him in pre-season and he was a bit unsure, still some excellent stuff and then a couple of bit moments where he was a bit rusty and he wasn't in the team. But of course there's way, well, Michael Keane let's be honest, played his way out the team didn't he. And then Hulgate got in and since he's got in, at Jeri Mina, they've been the best too. And I think Mina for me has been evidence, motion system player over the whole season, but Hulgate's been brilliant since he got in the side. And you know, we've seen what he can bring from a centre back. You know, we think the reference in the article, the goal of Brighton when he stepped out with the ball and played around the corner for Domin. He scored his first goal as well if he didn't again stay offered in the court. And he's just done, he's been brilliant. More often than not he's played as the left-sided centre back. Even though both our centre backs are right footed he played on the left because I think he's probably more comfortable on the ball in the other two in that zone. What it's given you is, he's given you the pace that maybe the other two haven't got. Mina's more command and powerful centre back playing on the right where he's right footed and he's given them less to worry about. But Hulgate's got the recovery pace alongside him. The season hasn't been without moments when he could have done better, but I think in general he's been excellent doesn't he? Yes, it's been his breakthrough season, but it's like in terms of just stepping up and becoming a first judge player. He obviously has been in them before and he was quite successful when Alan Dice first came in and he played alongside Ashley Williams. There was the same kind of dynamic there, both had particular strengths and for those games we got the clean sheets for the first few games with that partnership. And then Alan Dice started mixing a match. He started putting out jags in with Keen and sort of. And then he started mixing a match and it broke that consistency up. But obviously he went out and done his loan with West Brom last year. Come back and obviously like you just said he wasn't in the team. I think what it's been is, it's been one of those years where a player grows over a season. And this is something we don't really allow players too often is to grow into a season because there's so much pressure on them. And after a couple of games, two or three games, we get impatient with them and we want something else. We want the next big shine. Even now we're sitting here and we want a new centre back. We need a new centre back. Don't get me wrong, we need a left-sided centre back. But even in the summer, having three seemed, it seemed a worry. But not only three, I suppose because one of them was Hallgate. There's what meaners hasn't hardly played any games. Keen 50-50 and Hallgate, we're not so sure about them. So even then we wanted another one. And yet having three has allowed Hallgate to come into the side and blossom into a player where it used to say, if we had got Keen 50, he would have been fourth choice and never have broke through. So it's interesting the way things happen in football. Some players take a little bit longer, some players need a few games under the belt. They need to lean the negative things maybe to start seeing and leaning and come through that. That's what he's doing. As we're saying now, meaner has been consistently the best player this season at the back. But Hallgate just looks at calm and presence. Fans look at that now and say, why isn't Hallgate playing? Need Hallgate in there? The way he steps out so well with the ball, he's got a calmness. And that's their all great criteria for a top centre back. Yeah, he's been excellent for us. He's played his way into being one of those players where I guess he's one of the first on the team, so he should be. Very much like Dominic Calvert-Lewin, he's also grown particularly since Michael Silver went out the door. And Duncan took over, but Duncan also used and demonstrated Mason's versatility. Obviously playing in the centre of the park a couple of times and he was outstanding to the point where you were like, well, actually should we play Hallgate in the field? Because we need legs in there. So he's got that thing to his bow as well. We know he can play right back, but he's ultimately established himself as a centre back, which is where he wants to play. So, you know, looking at now for the summer or for whenever the transfer window is, it would be nice to get a left foot defender, and we know we've been heavily linked with Gabrielle, but then Chelsea, apparently, have been linked with him again over the weekend, so we'll have to see what happens. But we know that Carlo Ancelotti would like a left side defender in the squad. But what that means for me is that 12 months ago, people would have gone with Hallgate, so we'll go up the door because now it's like, well, it should really be Mason, yet he mean it. And the new left side of the play, which means Michael Keane becomes the odd man out, because I don't think he's performed well enough this season. And at 27, and we're only a couple of years left on a deal, he's the one who becomes vulnerable. You say that. I mean, Keane to a set, listen, from my point of view, Keane goes. I'm not interested. I don't think he's good enough. He's coming into a time now where you've got to sell him or give him a contract, so I think we should just sell him. I still think there's a bit of value there for some other teams to come in and buy him, you know, for around the price we bought him. But on yet he mean it, it's an interesting one because, you know, yet he mean it's had a good season, or decent season. Say that he come off the back of last season where a lot of people questioned him because he wasn't playing him when he did play, he never got into a role. But he has done well this season, but there is that. There is the thing now at the same time if you're bringing in a new centre back, say it was Gabriel, say we did get him. He's a left-sided centre back, so straight away you're thinking, well, he's going to play. You pay good money for him, he's going to play. OK, you might come in and out because of getting used to the Premier League, but ideally he's going to play. He's left-sided, he gives you a balance to your team. I suppose what this article is saying is that Caroline Schott, he really likes Mason Holgate. He looks at him as a player that he can put mould into whatever he wants him to be. He's tall, he's athletic, he's got pace. He's got that presence where people now start to speak about him as a possible captain. That's a lot he does as well. He's a ball player and you just think actually in terms of things, if you're going to create a new partnership, it would most likely be a Holgate with a new left-sided player, rather than Jerimine. I start to say Jerimine would leave the club, but it does raise question marks about Jerimine. It does in terms of his long term. It does, but you've got to look at, he's a unit, he's a powerful defender and I don't think you can have enough of those. He's a threat of set plays in the deposition penalty area. What it does is, and ultimately what you're trying to do is you're trying to create a squad where most of your players can play. There's no point having the days you're going to think of having David Moyes as 11 players you play and then the rest are just not there. The rest are just bit-bar players. But also, on top of that, the days have also gone for me where you can have 24 brilliant players because I just think players won't stick around now and we're seeing more players staying at clubs rather than just move for the sake of it. Now I feel and I feel as though that trend will continue and the best clubs certainly have a core of 16, 17, 18 maybe and then fill it out with bit-bar players and I think that's why I'm saying for me, Mina, it would be Mina, Holgate, maybe a Gabrielle if he's the one that comes in and then I could see them, Michael Keane being allowed to leave and then Louis Gibson maybe being the fourth choice. Three centre-backs is fine if you don't get injuries in those areas. It's fine because quite clearly having four creates a problem and the temptation is then to mix it all up with the best teams that have settled back for us. I suppose it depends how many competitions you're in as well. If you're in Europe, saying if you're in the Europa League, you can get games for both of them then and we've seen other teams do that. I suppose as well that the good thing about having a young player who's come, okay, Mason Holgate, Louis Gibson, both of them, haven't come through Everton's new francs and they've come to us young. You do get that affinity then hopefully for the club. Some get it more than others. It's a way like you've just said, they do want to stick around because they do feel like part of the club and they're not just coming in at mid-20s and it doesn't really matter but if you've got that and you've got that loyalty hopefully, then you can build on that. If you're bringing a couple in that you've bought that have been at the club since they were young, they will have that affinity and I think that really helps the situation as well if you've got two or three. Also for someone like Mason Holgate or Louis Gibson, it's that idea of saying well, you're young, well, Louis Gibson's gone on loan. They've obviously told him or they've sold to him a pathway. He's gone on loan. He might go again next season on loan but they're saying to him, well, you'll outlast whoever's in the team at the moment in terms of the senior players and when the time's right, we will put you in the team because we believe that and we'll put you next to whoever's there at the time but we feel that you will compete. You'll have to compete. You'll have to be as good as that fella but we'll give you the chance and I think for Mason Holgate that hasn't always felt like that's there, but he's got the chance where he's this season, he's probably got to a point in the season where he's gone, there's a real chance to get into this team. I've got to take it. I've got to take that. Dominic Aveloun is the same. I've got to take that chance while it's there, that extra motivation. Something Tom Davis needs to do and he hasn't done it as he was saying it. We've seen it with Dom and he's given to Neil Daner place. He's got to step up even. There doesn't have to be a finality about Tom Davis. It doesn't have to be either well-classed or we have to sell him. He can just be a decent squad player for everything and what I mean by that. We've seen an example of that doing the wattle on me did at the weekend. You know, we've got Alan Harper in the middle of the park in that game. Alan Harper was a very good player. He faced Shoosh, Everton Starter. Played a lot of games for Everton. Always did a great job and the players were there at the Howard's Way film and the players were talking about Harper and British and saying we're all done. They were our best players because they come in and do the job and never let anyone down. Tom Davis needs to get to a level where he comes in and does himself justice. There's a lot of good things he's got and this is where football is now. The expectation on any player, any young player you don't get that much time now to say to yourself that honeymoon period comes and goes very, very quickly. I think that's the irony though of Mason Hoggett this season though is that that honeymoon period had gone and it went on loan because it's Everton's favourite man to it, isn't it? Send them on loan. I've always said I don't really fancy the championship because I don't think it's a comparable level to the Premier League but sometimes you do have to say just getting them games you look at John Jo at the moment over in Germany he's obviously doing alright I think he started really well I think it's tailed off a bit but that will happen because it's your first season playing football competitively every game. Now when he comes back what were the expectations on Mason when he came back? None. There was no expectations on him, was there really? The irony about going to West Brom was there was no expectations on him when he came back I think they'd love to have kept them on loan. Yeah they'd love to. But there was no expectations from Evertonians we were just like oh he's back wonder what will happen he never started the season and that helped them playing a Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup he wasn't even great that night he wasn't even that good but as you said Michael Keane played himself out to the team but I don't think at the time anyone was really screaming for Mason to come into the team that was the irony it was more like we haven't got another centre of it back no one was going let's play Mason he got a couple of games and then suddenly people went the Brighton goal oh my god he's stepping out he's giving us something suddenly that partnership came out of nowhere in Manjari mean it at the time when we really needed to pick up wins and then Duncan come in Carl Angelotti came in just right at the right time there was no expectations on him so I don't know whether other people can do that I don't know whether Tom can do that because with Tom there's always somebody else can do it and there isn't that was the irony of what was happening before the break happened for someone like Tom Davis there wasn't anybody else it was all with Tim but the same play instead of just saying let him play and see what happens there was some kind of there's like a weird expectation on Tom Davis whereas on Mason Hoggart there wasn't any expectation on him at all so I don't know it's a weird thing to say for we finished with the likes of Tom Davis as though Holgate did go out on them and he did get games and then he's come back and got into the side Leon Oswyn had to do it years ago on a couple of loans Tom has played over under Premier League games being in the evident squat since he was 17 we made his debut against Southampton at 17 and then he was in the next season he got in and Ronald Cumin who's difficult to please played them every week for most of the time and then strange enough just cut them out when he wanted 57 number 10 for Tom Davis where is Holgate really grasped his opportunity and where is Don's really grasped his opportunity Tom hasn't been able to do it in the same way and therefore you know hopefully for him he could look at Holgate as an example and go well even on loan he's played every week and come back and because he played every week was up to worry he needed to be and then he's ready to go back into it and I think for someone like Tom Davis I honestly think that is probably his best route now to being an Everton Well Mason Holgate showed the way in terms of if you want it if you want to be an Everton player if you want to play in your preferred position and not shawand into the team because I think that's the other thing young players do young players just grasp their opportunities and then it doesn't work out I think what Mason Holgate has done is said I want to be a centre back I want to be Everton centre back I don't want to be a right back I want to be a centre back and that's fine but then go and prove you're a centre back now in games of football cut out the mistakes that you were making which for the most part he's done that and it's up to him now in football restart to keep that going because that's another thing of this break is it breaks up the momentum it's going to be it's a test for him, it's a test for Dominic Carver-Lewin, it's a test for all young players it's like can you pick that back up when you come back be a long break, can you pick that back up was it just like one of those little things that all young players have that little blip of good form we've seen it before, we've seen it with loads of players we've seen them have those one break it's where the top players just stay in it and that's what it's about and to be fair to Mason I've seen an interviewer him last week and he said that he knows he's got to get better to stay in with a well-class man and he's had well-class players like Maldini and people like that then he knows he's got to keep improving otherwise he won't be in so fingers crossed he will because he's been excellent for us Let us know your thoughts in the comments on Mason Hallgate on centre back next season whenever that is would you be the one that partners any new potential signing or would that signing have to bed in first and it would be him and Yeri Mene Let us know your thoughts in the comments where does that leave Michael Keane does it leave him anyway other than out the door and where does that leave Yeri Mene if you believe he's the first choice if you believe Mason Hallgate is the first choice and the new signing comes in Let us know your thoughts in the comments Don't forget to check out that offer with the Athletic Seven Day Trial followed by 50% by your annual subscription You might as well take the trial up, the link is in the description find out what they're all about the link is in the description so check that out Give this video a like, subscribe if you haven't already, please do that and if you want more great videos join us over on Patreon as podcasts as well if you haven't got a chance to watch you can listen, the link is in the description thanks for watching, see you later