Can Everton’s Fab Four end the club's trophy drought with Capital One Cup success?
It is 20 years since their last FA Cup success but a quartet of young talents has stoked the belief on the blue half of Merseyside that a new golden era is dawning
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Your support makes all the difference.John Stones had his hands in the pockets of his tracksuit bottoms as he nonchalantly headed down the tunnel at the Riverside Stadium to the team bus that would take him back to Merseyside. Romelu Lukaku was stood bare chested in his flip-flops talking to his former Chelsea team-mate Tomas Kalas.
Gerard Deulofeu had already said his piece to the television cameras after a mesmerising night’s work. Ross Barkley was high-fiving the Middlesbrough players he grew up with at England Under-21 level. They looked like four young men ready to saunter across a zebra crossing.
The spring was back in the step of manager Roberto Martinez. After the 2-0 win at Middlesbrough, his very own Merseyside “Fab Four” might just be on the brink of writing a new chapter in the history of Everton Football Club. Success in the Capital One Cup would be their first trophy since the FA Cup in 1995.
It felt like a football club at ease with itself, which, given the protracted pursuit of Stones by Chelsea throughout the summer, was an achievement in itself. Everton’s stance during the attempts to land the defender was one to be admired in the domestic game, as a club without a restless billionaire at its helm or a new stadium to fill stood up to the bullying antics of the Premier League’s stockpilers.
Stones did not leave Goodison, and with each game he looks the better for it. Chelsea, who upped their final bid for the 21-year-old to beyond £30m, realised then that money – as the Everton supporters gleefully told them during their victory over Jose Mourinho’s side in September – could not buy them Stones.
Everton paid Barnsley £3m for Stones in 2013. They brought Barkley through their own academy.
The deal for Deulofeu with Barcelona is complicated but it is clever. He could return to the Nou Camp in the summer for €9m (£6.4m) but would have to be part of Barça’s first-team squad and could not be sold for 12 months.
The fee rises a further 12 months down the line. It makes sense for the winger to be playing.
Lukaku’s goal at the Riverside Stadium in the quarter-final of the Capital One Cup was his 13th of the season, from 18 games. It does not look quite such an astute sale as Chelsea hunt for a new forward to lead their line.
The quartet are suggesting better times lie round the corner for Everton, unbeaten in their last six games.
“They have an aura now,” said Gareth Barry. “They have the confidence. They’re scoring goals, making assists and you can tell with the aura that they have got going out on to the pitch how much they are enjoying it.
“They need to keep learning along the way but it is important they don’t lose the swagger they have got. They can go on and be special players.
“Off the top of my head, I can’t think of four better young players together at one club,” Barry added. “When you are talking about four regular starters who are getting a run of games and they are consistently producing.
“Like any young players, if they are going to make it to the next level then consistency is the key. That is their next target.
“They are growing and becoming more vocal in the dressing room. Gerry, from when he was here two years ago, you can see the difference. All the players who have been here during my time at Everton, they have all matured.
“They have not let anything go to their heads. They don’t let success affect them. If they keep going that way, they can reach good things.
“You know how it is. I’m not going to build them up too much, but if they keep performing like that, they will be special players. Then they have to do it year in, year out like the real special players.”
Deulofeu scored Everton’s first goal on Tuesday and set up the other with a dazzling piece of skill that suggests he is destined for the top.
“Gerry can be what he wants to be if he keeps doing the right things,” Barry said. “He has special ability. He is scoring goals and making assists. He is coming back with a new style of how to cross a ball. He never had that in the first year. He always wanted to get down the line and beat a player.
“He is delivering balls at angles that Rom is feeding on. He is really thinking about his game and how he can be different. He has got to keep that hunger.”
It is a desire not limited to the four players, all still under 23. “For me that would be the special thing, to be at a club where they have waited so long to win something,” added Barry.
“You can tell by the way the fans are. We want to be a part of the first group that wins something and then kick on and win a few more. The players who have been at this club a long time deserve it too. We won’t get ahead of ourselves but it is getting closer and closer.”
Everton's Fab Four
John Stones
Defender, 21 years old
Joined 2013, £3m from Barnsley
Games 68
Goals 1
Clean sheets 22
England caps 7
Ross Barkley
Midfielder, 21 years old
Joined Youth
Games 110
Goals 16
Assists 7
England caps 19
Romelu Lukaku
Striker, 22 years old
Joined 2014, £28m, Chelsea
Games 99
Goals 59
Assists 20
Belgium caps 42
Gerard Deulofeu
Midfielder, 21 years old
Joined 2014, £4.2m, Barcelona
Games 45 (including loan)
Goals 7
Assists 14
Spain cap 1
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