IT’S A sign of how many players have returned from injury at Everton that David Moyes is now allowing some of his youngsters to go out on loan. James Vaughan made his debut on loan to Leicester City at the weekend in his latest bid to get his career back on track, and there is talk of right-back Seamus Coleman having a spell at Blackpool in order to get some first-team experience.

There’s been a bit of a clamour from supporters to see more of Coleman since a couple of barnstorming cameos as substitute that turned awkward games against Tottenham and Carlisle United in the Blues’ favour. There is a long tradition of players who aren’t featuring growing in stature with every game they miss, it’s often referred to as the ‘Idan Tal Syndrome’, and Ian Holloway will think he’s getting the Irish answer to Cafu if some overzealous Evertonians are to be believed.

The fact of the matter is though, Moyes and the rest of the management team at Goodison see more of the players than anyone else, and so if they don’t think he’s ready to break into the first team consistently then it’s difficult to argue based on a couple of appearances.

You know things are bad when you start to hear plaintive cries from the stands of ‘come on, give the kids a chance’, and thankfully it’s a long time since people screamed for Kevin McLeod or Guillame Plessis to get a run out, simply because they couldn’t imagine it possible for them to be any worse than the senior players struggling on the pitch.

And even Moyes’ harshest critics would struggle to make a case against him based on a reluctance to put his trust in young players, because his record shows him throwing teenagers in at the deep end on a consistent basis during his Goodison reign.

Granted, more by necessity or even desperation at times, but still there can’t be many managers in the top flight with a better record of bringing on nascent talent.

As for Coleman, he might be slightly disappointed at his lack of first team exposure since earning those rave reviews back in December and January, but plenty of players have been farmed out as youngsters and come back better for the experience, with Leon Osman and the incomparable Neville Southall the first to spring to mind.