Another hamstring injury means the end of Tyler Onyango's Everton Academy career | OneFootball

Everton Academy prospect Tyler Onyango has suffered a serious hamstring injury while on loan at Stockport County. He suffered the injury in their 1-0 defeat to Bradford during the week.

Onyango has been with Everton since 2018, but he has failed to make much of an impression on the first-team, with just five appearances since breaking through in 2021, and his existing Everton contract will expire before he recovers full fitness. He has spent several seasons out on loan with clubs in the lower leagues after outgrowing the Under-21s and Premier League 2. He joined Stockport County for a second season last September, but the 22-year-old now needs to undergo surgery that means he will miss the rest of the season after just 13 appearances.

Onyango turns 23 next month, but has played senior competitive football for a professional club just 55 times over the last 6 years: the reason being some incredibly bad luck with injuries.

This is set to be his fourth long-term injury in his career, having already missed a total of 46 games since 2021. His first injury was to his ankle, which ruled him out for 185 days. His second injury ruled him out for 146 days, while a previous hamstring injury 3 years ago saw him miss 100 days.

Having started all 10 of the League One encounters he has featured in with The Hatters this season, his footballing journey looks like following the vast majority of highly rated Everton Academy products who seem destined for a future that is a long way below the Premier League.

Actually, I suppose that headline might be unduly harsh.

The lovely folks in the Everton Academy do have previous for nursing the sick and infirm through their extended periods of recovery -- even when their Everton contracts have long since run out.

I think we had three last season, Stan Mills... Sean McAllister, and of course the most notorious one: Dele Alli.

Mike Gaynes 3 Posted 20/02/2026 at 02:48:41

"The vast majority of highly rated Everton Academy products who seem destined for a future that is a long way below the Premier League."

Bit unfair that, isn't it?

The word Everton is superfluous in that sentence. It applies to ALL "highly rated Academy products" not just ours.

My pal AI says that 97% of Category 1 academy players ('the highest level of elite youth training') never appear in the Premier League at all, which means Onyango already beat staggering odds to appear even five times in the blue shirt.

Kieran Kinsella 4 Posted 20/02/2026 at 03:45:52

It's weird thinking back under Ancelotti, he was in the first team mix (squad not playing regularly) but went nowhere.

That said, Godfrey -- the athlete with zero football ability -- was also in that group at a cost of £24M.

Just amazing how much variance there is between players literally worth nothing and guys costing tens of millions and either way they end up going the same way due to injuries, aptitude or other factors.

Mark Wilson 7 Posted 20/02/2026 at 23:55:49

It's good to see the Old Lady of Web Chatting alive and well and trying to solve this particular mystery which rarely delivers a comforting solution!

For me, it's mostly about luck. Luck in that a manager gives a kid a chance far earlier than others might and or preserves with hearing the lad in quotation slagged off after 3 games and doesn't give the right time. Or thought to positioning or strength on and off ball etc etc.

Luck that the breakthrough is sustained and a Rooney born, the fabulously White Lion of the football world.

8 Posted 23/02/2026 at 19:03:00

Mike (3) - "The word 'Everton' is superfluous in that sentence. It applies to all "highly rated Academy products" not just ours."

Yes, we're no different from other clubs, that way. Over the years, when I check highlights of our loan-outs, finding names of erstwhile Everton youth players is pretty routine.

With Premier League wages being so attractive today, UK youths don't just have one another to compete with, they also have young talent from around the world as competition for first-team places.

I wonder, if he came along today, would a skillful footballer like Leon Osman be able to compete in today's Premier League?