Malky Mackay admits Ross County braced for bids for Dylan Smith amid Everton transfer interest
Ross County manager Malky Mackay has admitted the Scottish club are braced for Dylan Smith bids amid reported transfer interest from Everton.
The Daily Mail revealed on Monday [17 April] that the Toffees have scouted the SPFL’s youngest player this season ahead of a possible move this summer.
Although nominally a central defender the 16-year-old has been tipped as a possible replacement for club-legend Seamus Coleman at right-back.
The Staggies sensation has featured eight times so far this season having made his debut earlier this season against Rangers on 27 August but has since broken into the first team.
And boss Mackay has confirmed informal conversations have taken place over the youngster’s availability and he confessed it’s only a matter of time before bigger clubs come calling for Smith’s services.
He said [via Football.Scotland, 20 April]: “There’s been plenty of off-the-record conversations, people asking about him, but nobody has made a bid. I’d expect there to be soon.
“Roy MacGregor (chairman) and Steven Ferguson (CEO) will make a decision on what is offered and also what he could end up doing if he stays here.
“Good players always attract speculation, so I’m not surprised teams are looking at him because he’s a 16-year-old playing at this standard, on TV against the likes of Duk, Kyogo and Stevie May. If it doesn’t, the scouts aren’t doing their job.”
One for future
The Toffees had already been to Scotland to locate a long-term replacement for Coleman once, when they sealed £16million signing of Nathan Patterson from Rangers [Sky Sports, 4 January 2022].
And it seems as though Everton aren’t stopping with just Patterson as a long-term solution, as Smith could potentially be also viewed as a player for the future at Goodison Park and given his versatility in being able to play at centre-back too, this seems like an exciting move for the teenage sensation.
Smith has already shown early promise in his early first-team performances within eight games and Everton are also simultaneously checking out Aberdeen’s match-winner Duk, which may well be the start of a long process in building towards a promising future at Goodison.
With relegation potentially on the horizon for the club if they’re not careful in the Premier League in the coming crucial games may not put a dampener on these potential moves but if the club are to attract high-end exciting talents to build towards their future then securing the status in the top-flight will have to be a guarantee.
Scottish youngsters are believed to be the talk of the British game in recent years with fellow teenager Calvin Ramsey heading to Liverpool from Aberdeen last summer so Everton may well be trying to move quickly ahead of their rivals in securing the future of arguably the next best wonderkid teenager to emerge from the SPFL.
