“I’ve been working hard on different parts of my game” – Braiden Graham plots pre-season push to impress Moyes

(Photo by Cameron Smith/Getty Images)

Braiden Graham has said he wants to keep improving and break into the Everton first team, after earning his first international call up this month.

Graham has been included in the Northern Ireland squad for this month's camp and was an unused substitute during the 1-0 win over Guinea on Thursday. He could make his international debut against France on Monday night.

The 18-year-old's inclusion is reward for his prolific exploits at youth level, where he scored 26 goals for Everton's u-21 side in 2025/26 to win the Under-21s' Player of the Season award.

Graham has also scored prolifically for the national team at youth level, including nine goals in 13 Under-19 appearances for Northern Ireland.

He now has the chance to impress Michael O'Neill with the national team, before his senior debut for Everton. However, Graham has his sights set firmly on winning David Moyes's trust in pre-season.

“I’ve had a good season and enjoyed it – scoring goals and playing well – and I’m really happy to receive the Under-21s Player of the Season award,” Graham told evertontv.

“I’ve been working hard on different parts of my game – on and off the pitch – so I’m happy I’ve kicked on this season and done well.

“I’ll keep working hard in the off-season and then come back and hope to have a good pre-season and kick on – maybe go on loan or stay here.”

Reader Comments (36)

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Andy Meighan 2 Posted 05/06/2026 at 10:32:32

Don't worry, kid, you'll soon be getting splinters in your arse if Moyes has his way.

Think Dibling, Armstrong et al.

Paul Hewitt 3 Posted 05/06/2026 at 10:34:02

A loan to a Championship club is what he needs.

John Collins 4 Posted 05/06/2026 at 11:00:27

Go out on loan, kid.

He will be gone when you get back

Paul Hewitt 5 Posted 05/06/2026 at 11:31:56

Not if we win the league John. :)

Terry Downes 6 Posted 05/06/2026 at 11:35:13

Paul 🤣🤣🤣

Stu Darlington 7 Posted 05/06/2026 at 12:06:02

Brilliant prospect, but needs to bulk up quite a bit before taking on experienced Premier League defenders.

A far cry from U18 and U21 football even at international level.

Martin Berry 8 Posted 05/06/2026 at 12:52:42

Time is going to tell with this lad, It will be interesting to see how he goes on if he gets a run out against France.

A loan must be the answer to get him battle hardened. The Championship is a tough ask but must be done. Hopefully he will develop physically as part of a natural process. only then will we really know what he is capable of.

Wishing the lad all the best and fingers crossed him.

Christy Ring 9 Posted 05/06/2026 at 13:16:52

He has to go out on loan, if Harrison is too young at 19, what chance has he got?

Even at one of Moyes press conferences in the last month of the season, he was asked about Graham, and he more or less said, he's not at a good enough level

Probably never even watched him, and preferred to have two keepers on the bench.

Alan McGuffog 10 Posted 05/06/2026 at 13:28:46

Are the reds sending that kid Rio out on loan? Or are they just planning on playing him more?

We've had so many "wonderkids" over the years...

Eddie Palin 11 Posted 05/06/2026 at 13:50:51

If he can get his weight up to 15 stone, his height up to 6ft-3in, then most crucial of all, he stops scoring goals, then Dithering Davey might put him on the bench.

David West 12 Posted 05/06/2026 at 14:26:20

Have we had "so many" wonderkids?

Rooney and Barkley are the two standouts for me; Jeffers could be in there. Others maybe seemed like they were great when we had such shite teams.

Cadermatri, Rodwell, Vaughan, Simms, Tom Davies all had talent but not of true top Premier League players.

The step up is huge, not just making the step up, but maintaining the level required, which a lot of our youngers have struggled with after breaking through.

Mindset is a big factor, I think, you can have all the talent you want but dedication, commitment and drive to perform consistently is something you can't teach or coach, it's on the player.

David West 13 Posted 05/06/2026 at 14:33:22

Gordon could be in there.

But I've erased him from my memory!

Darren Hind 14 Posted 05/06/2026 at 15:29:13

I think we have had many youngsters of genuine potential.

But if we are talking about "wonder kids", I think once you have mentioned Rooney, you have to go all the way back to Colin Harvey.

Dan Brierley 15 Posted 05/06/2026 at 15:31:41

I think when it comes to youth, we can draw more parallels with West Ham. Moyes is well known for being pragmatic, so won't take risks by frequently playing younger players.

At West Ham, he gave debuts to Ollie Scarles and George Earthy, but was then heavily criticised by the fan base for not giving them enough chances. Hammers fans believed the team could go further with youth players, and saw Moyes as holding the club back. This was despite the fact that Moyes built the team around 20-year-old Declan Rice.

When Moyes left, Lopetegui and then Potter took over, who both gave those youth players far more game time. West Ham then got relegated.

The moral of the story here seems to be that the fanbase of most clubs love the idea of progressive managers who trust youth players. The reality is there is not many managers out there that can do it consistently, Graham Potter being a great example.

Christy Ring 16 Posted 05/06/2026 at 16:00:22

Rooney is the standout player, I'd still rate Barkley, a bit unlucky, Jeffers went for big money.

Ball did well, went to Rangers, Smith got rid of both, felt sorry for Vaughan, so many injuries in his early career.

Ian Bennett 17 Posted 05/06/2026 at 16:04:06

Before my time, but did those going in the 80s consider Steve Mcmahon as a missed opportunity?

I remember him being a fierce rival 86 onwards, but id be interested in how fans saw his sale back then to Villa for £175k?

Jay Harris 18 Posted 05/06/2026 at 16:18:38

Ellis Simms was knocking them in for fun at youth level.

He is only recently beginning to find his way in the Championship.

It is a massive leap from youth level to Premier League -- especially for forwards.

Mike Gaynes 19 Posted 05/06/2026 at 17:06:21

Dan #15, haven't seen you post in a loooong time, welcome back.

I tend to trust managers' judgements on young players more than fans. They see the kids for hours at a time on a daily basis. We barely glimpse them.

We love the young, the new, the exciting, but managers get paid millions to decide whether they can actually do the job, and their own jobs are on the line if they get it wrong.

I get as frustrated as anybody when the youngsters don't get the chance during games, but during calmer moments, I reflect that maybe there's a reason.

Jay #20, I still remember Simms's only goal for us, that brilliant last-minute effort at Chelsea to get us a draw. Seems a lifetime ago. He finally gets his chance in the Premier League next season. Let's see how he does.

Dave Abrahams 20 Posted 05/06/2026 at 17:09:41

Ian (17),

I've said this a few times on ToffeeWeb...

Steve McMahon wasn't a missed chance, he always had the same nature from when he started to when he finished. He was a street wise Scouser who wouldn't let Howard Kendall take the piss out of him.

He was in the same team as David Johnson and Adrian Heath and was as good as them, if not better. Johnson and Heath were on £900 a week, Stevie was on £400 when he asked Kendall about a rise.

Kendall came back with an offer of £25 more a week. Stevie told him what to do with that and that's how he went to Aston Villa even though Liverpool offered him a better deal.

I think that suited Kendall because he was after Trevor Steven from Burnley but didn't have the readies to sign him and moving McMahon gave him what he needed.

There was no love lost between Kendall and McMahon after that and maybe a little before that. [I grew up with Tucker McMahon, Stevie's dad, who I got the above story off.]

Mike Gaynes 21 Posted 05/06/2026 at 17:18:57

Darren #14 and David #12,

I would put John Stones in that category.

John Collins 22 Posted 05/06/2026 at 17:36:24

Good family, the McMahons, Dave.

I liked Steve as a player from his first derby game. Young kid who never took a backward step that day.

Got to be honest though, mate, if Tricky was signed with the McMahon transfer money, we got the best of the deal.

Andy Meighan 23 Posted 05/06/2026 at 17:43:19

McMahon was another rat who couldn't wait to cross the park.

No better than Barmby in my eyes, even if he did go to Villa for a season.

Ian Bennett 24 Posted 05/06/2026 at 17:53:59

Cheers, Dave, appreciate that.

He was always a fierce competitor when I saw him, but wore the wrong colour.

Dale Self 25 Posted 05/06/2026 at 18:41:04

Supposedly, Dibling is ace on EA Sports FC, so he will obviously work out.

Dave Abrahams 26 Posted 05/06/2026 at 18:59:20

John (@22),

I think that derby game finished 2-2 after we had led 2-0 after about 30 minutes with goals from Asa Hartford and Joe McBride. Liverpool got a goal back before half-time and then there was only going to be one winner... and it wasn't Everton.

Dalgleish missed a couple of sitters after they equalised and I labelled the match a 2-2 massacre by Liverpool in the following Saturday night Pink Echo. Stevie was one of the few players who battled for the whole game because he was an Evertonian and losing to Liverpool wasn't the way he wanted that game to finish.

Andy (@23), Stevie was a born and bred Bluenose who went training with the Blues once he was an apprentice, in hail, rain or snow. Once he was given his chance in the first team by Gordon Lee, I don't think he was ever dropped.

If not letting a manager take the piss out of you makes you a rat, I'd definitely disagree with that. Letting two players who you were as good as getting more than twice as much you would make him a bit of a dickhead and Stevie wasn't one of them.

Kendall forced that move and Villa got the benefit of him for one season. Liverpool and England were well served by him as he proved how good he was over many years.

Trevor Steven was a very good player but in a different position to McMahon. Would you say he was a rat for leaving Everton to go to Rangers? Everton got nowhere near his value when the fee was settled by a tribunal, a little more than we paid for Pat Nevin.

Christy Ring 27 Posted 05/06/2026 at 23:30:24

Dave #26,

I'd love to hear you're history of Everton, and why he didn't like McMahon, even though he replaced him with Reid, and why McMahon never said a bad word either!?

Derek Thomas 28 Posted 05/06/2026 at 01:16:09

Stu Darlington @7,

What's this obsession with 'bulking up'? Did Heath have to bulk up? Ball, Young, Best even? (And no I'm not saying he's the new Best -- he's the new Graham.)

Or that little guy Silva at Man City a few years ago, Arshavin when he scored 4 vs the Red Shite. Our 1st season with Lukaku, vs his first at Man Utd when Jose had him bulk up.

'Bulk up' all to often can mean 'slow down'; bulking up is for the 100-m sprint. Football is a middle-distance game, with 25-m dashes thrown in.

Alan J Thompson 29 Posted 06/06/2026 at 06:28:16

Given that nine players are allowed on the subs bench, I can't see why promising young players can't occasionally be named and perhaps get the odd 10-15 minutes towards the end of games going our way, with the proviso that he still gets games at his age level if he doesn't become a permanent first teamer.

And isn't there an allowance for players under a certain age not needing to be named in a squad with the Premier League.

I can understand players going out on loan providing they get regular games at what should be higher than youth levels but sometimes wonder if it doesn't reflect on the standard of our Academy coaches.

Stu Gre 30 Posted 06/06/2026 at 07:29:54

I agree with that, Alan.

For example, when Ndiaye put us 3-0 up against Chelsea, with 10-ish minutes to go -- why not give some young players 10 or 15 minutes (with injury time)?

Lee Courtliff 31 Posted 06/06/2026 at 07:30:14

I've just had a really strange dream where we sold this lad to Bayern Munich for £6.9M and everyone on here went absolutely wild with fury!!

The club had to come out and issue a statement defending the sale!!

Weird.

David Peate 32 Posted 06/06/2026 at 07:41:45

One truly homegrown talent who has been overlooked in the list of small names of youngsters is Brian Labone.

A local lad who came through the ranks at Everton and appeared in the national squad.

Stu Darlington 33 Posted 06/06/2026 at 09:46:43

Derek@28 Take your point Derek,but I didn’t mean turn him into the Incredible Hulk, just work on muscle development compatible with his own frame. The players you mention weren’t big physically admittedly but their muscle development was certainly in proportion to their size. I just believe young Braiden has a way to go in that respect and surely we have the coaching staff who can work on that without detracting from his natural skills? Re your reference to Lukaku,he was a big unit when he was at Everton and didn’t need to get any bigger when he went to United,was his increase in size club policy or was it life style induced? The PL is the most physical league in the world and for players to have successful careers in it they need to be able to match that physicality,do you honestly believe young Braiden is up to that at the moment?

Brian Denton 34 Posted 06/06/2026 at 10:37:33

David,

A local lad who came through the ranks at Everton and appeared in the national squad.

Brian Labone did more than 'appear in the national squad' - an odd way of describing a full England international.

I know injury at the end may have played its part, but Brian played every game of his professional career for Everton, gun to tape.

Dave Abrahams 35 Posted 06/06/2026 at 10:45:17

Christy (27) Yes Christy Reid came after McMahon and yet Kendall never played Reid for a long time after he came, in fact he brought him on as a sub. In the league cup tie with Coventry and Reid took over the game and we won 2-1. The day after that Colin Harvey became the assistant coach and our rise began with Reid, and Andy Gray, getting the team battling in every game, maybe coincidence (?).

As for the dislike — In later years Kendall and McMahon were at a football talk in at Dunlops club, the question was asked, from the audience, about Stevie leaving Everton, Kendall said I couldn’t agree terms with his agent, McMahon stated banging his hand on the table and told Howard that he never had an agent but let him know and the audience that he wasn’t very fond of Kendall.

My own opinion about Stevie McMahon was that if he had stayed at Everton we would still have been the team we became no matter who were his midfield partners, except Ball who knitted the team together, and that’s no disrespect to Kendall, Harvey or Bracewell,

Dave Abrahams 36 Posted 06/06/2026 at 12:06:16

Brian (34)I first saw Brian Labone in a Friday night pre season trial match for Everton reserves v the first team, he was marking Davie Hickson who played every game like it was a up final, I don’t remember the score or if Davie scored but I do remember, like most fans watching that we had seen a future first team player with the performance of the cool,calm and collected game by Brian Labone.

I think Brian was the first Everton player since World War Two to represent England in a full international,, he was a player who never seemed to get flustered no matter the occasion although he did admit had to leave Goodison Park a few minutes before the end of one of our relegation battles and walk slowly around the ground waiting for the final whistle to blow, not sure if was the Wimbledon or Coventry game.

Brian was gentleman on and off the field— labelled “ The Last Of The Corinthians”

I had the pleasure of meeting Brian many times in town and talking about the team we loved but he never had a bad word to say about any Everton player no matter how much I goaded him to— he always kept his own council, mind you he did tell me he had a tenner on Arsenal to win 2-0 in that famous win at Anfield when Arsenal clinched the title with that last minute goal— I wished I had followed his advice!