Everton’s youth system leads a strange double life. On the one hand, it has unfurled talents such as Wayne Rooney, Franny Jeffers (he was good once), Richard Dunne, Michael Ball, Danny Cadamarteri, Tony Hibbert, Victor Anichebe and James Vaughan.

On the other hand, though, it has let quite a few people slip though the net, with boyhood Everton fans such as Steve McManaman, Michael Owen, Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler all plying their trade on the other side of Stanley Park. Why none of these were spotted by the Everton Academy remains a major frustration.

With the Daily Mail’s claim that David Moyes is set to bid £8million for Manchester City’s Michael Johnson, it is possible that Everton could have three former Academy players in their ranks next year.

Phil Jagielka was rejected by Everton as a 15-year-old trainee while Leighton Baines was also on Goodison books as a teen and transfer-target Johnson was deemed surplus to requirements by the Academy. If we do sign Johnson and this trio line up in Everton blue next season, Moyes will have spent a bloated £18m on two players Everton could have got for free.

Johnson – described , perhaps a little optimistically in some circles, as the new Stevie Gerrard – would be a great addition to the Everton side. But he was released from the Everton set-up during Moyes’ tenure and the fact that he is now wanted by the Everton manager must be a big embarrassment – even if Johnson’s decison to move to City's youth team would probably have been a fault of the Academy coaches at Everton.

As for Baines and Jagielka, their release isn’t Moyes’ fault – he wasn’t around when those youngsters were ejected from the Everton system and there is a possibility that the development of these three came later than most youngsters, thus meaning that they slipped under the radar. However, there is an equal chance that this talented bunch were dismissed because of faulty assessments  by Everton’s youth staff.