Bristol Rovers face transfer déjà vu as Everton follow Brighton raid | OneFootball

Bristol Rovers' Ollie Dewsbury is training with Everton, a year on from Brighton signing Kofi Shaw from the Gas

Bristol Rovers have had a busy transfer window so far this summer, which has filled the club with optimism ahead of their first full season with Steve Evans at the helm.

The Gas ended the 2025/26 campaign on a real high, winning 10 of their final 12 games and dropping points only to Bromley and Notts County, two of the promoted quartet. They finished 14th, with hopes that next year could see them back up near the top three.

There's been a lot of movement in the transfer window, too, which stokes that hope. Plenty of players with a promotion pedigree have arrived at the Memorial Stadium, such as Ben Purrington, Ciaran Kelly and Tom James, and they've recouped fees for Kamil Conteh and Isaac Hutchinson, who didn't play any part in that electric end-of-season form.

But there may be another departure incoming that won't be received as positively, as 18-year-old Ollie Dewsbury is currently training with Everton and has been monitored by Arsenal and Fulham, too.

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Dewsbury is the second-youngest player to ever play for Bristol Rovers, making his debut aged just 15 years and 255 days against Whitby Town in the FA Cup in November 2023. He has since made 22 appearances for the Gas, including 12 in League Two this season.

After scoring three times in 22 games for Weston-Super-Mare in a loan spell in the second half of last term, he'd easily be earmarked for more EFL action this summer, but it looks like he'll be continuing his development in a Premier League academy instead.

This isn't the first time that this has happened to Bristol Rovers recently, either, as this time last summer, they bid farewell to teenage prospect Kofi Shaw, who made the switch to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Shaw made 15 League One appearances in the 2024/25 campaign and would have been expected to be a key part of the Pirates' rebuild in the fourth tier, but he instead opted to continue his development in an elite academy.

The 19-year-old hasn't come close to making his senior Seagulls debut yet. He did feature in the EFL Trophy for his current club, coming off the bench in a penalty defeat against Barnet, in which he scored his spot-kick.

It has been a bit of an injury-disrupted campaign, with him making a return to feature off the bench in all four of Brighton's PL2 play-off games, seeing them win the final against Manchester United in May, but there's still frustration that Bristol Rovers weren't able to develop him further after coming out of their academy.

Now, 12 months on, the same is set to happen again with Dewsbury, and all the higher-ups at the Memorial Stadium can do is watch on and feel powerless to another young prospect being poached by a top-flight side to play more youth football, rather than be exposed to senior games at his current club.

Bristol Rovers will feel aggrieved as they watch Ollie Dewsbury move on

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At least with Shaw, Bristol Rovers only had him in their academy for a few years before his switch to Brighton, but with Dewsbury, the attacker has been with the Pirates ever since he was seven.

It'll definitely feel a little more frustrating watching a Premier League side swoop in and take over the development just as he begins to show signs of breaking into the senior fold, but there's little that Rovers can do about it.

Ultimately, the facilities that these top-flight clubs have to help aid in a young player's development, plus the money they can offer them to make that switch, are a no-brainer to some prospects who play for a side further down in the EFL.

All Bristol Rovers can do is build their stature and get out of League Two, as being a third-tier side could increase their chances of keeping their young players for longer. However, that's not even a guarantee, as seen with Chelsea snapping up exciting attacker Harrison Bettoni from Wigan Athletic this summer, too.

It can be easy to feel rather downbeat as Dewsbury moves on, but even without the 18-year-old, the Gas looked primed for a promotion push in the upcoming campaign, as they strive to return to League One after a couple of years away.