Everton assistant coach Steve Stone is convinced by the young talent coming through.

Stone believes they have several youngsters of Premier League potential.

“It's been good to get to know the lads on a personal level" Stone told evertontv. “(Last season) we had been working together so hard on the tactical side of the game and trying to prepare for games. So really on an individual level, pre-season has been really important.

“In Evian, we got to spend seven days together, one-to-one, 24 hours a day, you really get to see some of the personalities come out. You know, the leaders."

Stone added: “I am a big believer in trying to improve the players we have got here. We have got some really good young players. You can talk about Jimmy Garner, Patterson, you can still talk about Dwight McNeil being a young man, Branthwaite has come back in from his loan spell.

“There are so many young players here who we have got to develop and work with. Our job as coaches is to try to make those players better so we don't have to go out and buy those kinds of players."