His closest to making Everton first team since his £4 million move from Fulham was as an unused substitute in Toffees quarterfinal defeat to Leicester in the League Cup. Dennis Adeniran would however be hoping for his Premier League debut after being drafted to Goodison Park first team by Manager Carlo Ancelotti ahead of Liverpool visit With injury problems to some of Everton’s midfielders, Manager Carlo Ancelotti is monitoring Dennis Adeniran in training sessions ahead of the English Premier League restart.
The Toffees 2019-2020 campaign gets back underway on Sunday, June 21 when they host champions-in-waiting Liverpool at Goodison Park behind closed doors.
While Nigeria international Alex Iwobi is gearing up for his first Merseyside derby this decade, having missed the 1-0 loss to the Reds on January 5 due to a hamstring injury, the next player of Nigerian descent tipped to make his debut for the Toffees first team, Adeniran having been promoted to first team training by the Italian football tactician.
The 21-year-old has been knocking on the first team door this season and was a non-playing substitute in the loss to Leicester City in the quarterfinal of the League Cup back in December.
A player with a lot of talent, Adeniran represented England at the 2016 U17 European Championship and has also featured for his country of birth at U18 and U19 levels.
The former Fulham starlet appeared in 14 matches in the Premier League 2 this term, scoring two goals.
Under former Manager, Marco Silva Adeniran was promoted to Everton’s first-team squad as he awaits a professional debut Everton have won the Premier League 2 title twice in three seasons with the likes of Tom Davies, Jonjoe Kenny, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Beni Baningime being rewarded for their impressive performances at reserve level with debuts for the senior side.
And Adeniran, who moved to Goodison Park from Fulham two years ago in a deal that could rise to £4 million was about to follow in their footsteps.
A central midfielder who can also play out wide, the 21 year-old played 25 games as David Unsworth led Everton to the U23 title and the former left-back has revealed that Adeniran had since caught Silva’s eye with his energetic displays.
“There’s a potential of Dennis,” Unsworth said. “He trains with the first-team every day which is great for him and he’s getting his games with us.
“A loan might be a possibility but it wouldn’t surprise me if he stayed until the end of the season with the first-team so who knows?
Adeniran’s future remains unclear as Lewis Warrington is regarded as a brighter midfield prospect. But with the former England U19 international having one year remaining on his deal, Everton would need to locate a suitor if they wish to cash in.
Adeniran joined Everton from Fulham in 2017 and has gone on to make 54 appearances for the U23s, scoring three goals and making three assists. The 21-year-old is behind Andre Gomes, Fabian Delph, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Morgan Schneiderlin, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Tom Davies in the pecking order, so he didn’t stand a chance of getting first-team football.
He was an unused substitute in Everton’s EFL Cup defeat to Leicester City on December 18, 2019, but never managed to kick on from there, so an exit looks inevitable this summer.
Adeniran has not made sufficient enough progression in the reserves and has too many players standing in his way of getting minutes under Ancelotti.
Analysts are of the opinion that it was time for Adeniran to be given his chance and the next nine games are the perfect opportunity, otherwise he really should start to look somewhere else for a regular playing time.
