Roberto Martinez praises Everton youngster for solving left-back crisis against West Ham

Brendan Galloway has quickly found his feet in the Premier League at the age of just 19

IT WAS Brendan Galloway’s sliding doors moment.

 

Everton manager Roberto Martinez was without Leighton Baines due to injury and was initially minded to turn to Luke Garbutt for the end-of-season trip to West Ham back in May.

Instead he took a stand. Garbutt was refusing to sign a new deal at the time, and was due to be out of contract that summer, so Martinez delved deeper into his squad for a relatively unknown 19-year-old and handed him his debut.

Opportunity knocked for Galloway and as the youngster prepares to retrace his footsteps back to Upton Park, the defender’s progress has been remarkable.

“Brendan trained that week very well and it was one of those things that came together,” recalled Martinez.

“Before that game was the Luke Garbutt situation. He didn’t want to sign a contract and there was a big doubt.

“I felt Brendan was ready to play. He found out at 1.30pm that day and from that moment his career has taken off because he was ready for it.

“He has become a Premier League footballer since the West Ham game away in May.”

 

Galloway has made only 13 senior appearances since moving to Merseyside from MK Dons in the summer of 2014, but anyone who has witnessed how he has combined athleticism with composure at left-back will not consider the praise from his manager to be outlandish.

When he was left out of Everton’s starting line-up against Sunderland last weekend in favour of Bryan Oviedo, eyebrows were raised only for injury to the Costa Rican to mean Galloway was introduced after 26 minutes anyway.

Martinez explained he was simply protecting Galloway, who is now part of the England U21s set-up, and has his progress mapped out.

“He has never played so much at football league level never mind the Premier League,” said Martinez of a player, who started just four games for MK Dons. “It is just about making sure that we give him the right amount of games. He is only 19 and it is down to me to protect him a little bit.

 

“But he has become a Premier League footballer. He is not a young player who is trying to have a break.

“It is about small targets now. What you want is to try to improve as a footballer. Brendan is an incredible character. You get players who sometimes have self-doubt and they have difficulties in becoming lead footballers.

“It is the opposite with Brendan. He has an elite brain and nothing fazes him. It doesn’t matter if he needs to make his debut against West Ham away from home or he has to play against Chelsea.

“It doesn’t faze him at all. The key with Brendan is making him an all-round left back and then an all-round centre-half, without seeing a centre-half playing as a left back or a left-back filling in at centre-half.

“That is the next target for him. The playing time will come - I have no worries about that.”

 

Martinez turned to Galloway after Luke Garbutt's contract renewal turned out to be difficult

The reassurance is timely. While Oviedo is now out for three weeks with a hamstring problem, Baines is likely to return after the international break following six months out and will provide a new challenge to Galloway.

“Brendan doesn’t need to look elsewhere or any other player,” said Martinez. “He just needs to concentrate on his own performances and the way he can improve as a player. “Whatever happens with Leighton Baines, Brendan will be an important player for us.

"We have Leighton Baines, Bryan Oviedo and Brendan Galloway and the three of them are going to be very important.” Thus far, the only delay in Galloway’s progress has been over a new deal to replace the five-year contract he penned when arriving at Goodison Park.

“We wanted to give him a reward,” added Martinez. “Maybe in January it will be done.”

If Galloway remembers the story of his debut and Garbutt’s doubts, he might be inclined to scribble his autograph on a contract as soon as possible.