Everton ‘natural’ leader emerges as Sean Dyche surprises squad ahead of Salford City friendly

James Garner wore the captain’s armband in the second half of Everton’s friendly at Salford City

Everton players celebrate James Garner’s opener

James Garner hopes to emerge as a leader among the Everton squad this season. After Seamus Coleman was withdrawn and with James Tarkowski, essentially the club’s vice captain, not involved against Salford City, the 23-year-old took the captain’s armband during the second half of the club’s friendly.

Speaking after the game, the midfielder said he saw himself as a leader having captained sides throughout his rise through youth levels and, after two years at Everton, now feels ready to take a senior role with the Blues.

He said: “I have always been a natural leader. I have always had the armband since I was a kid all the way up to the Under-21s [when rising through the Manchester United academy] so the next step for me now is being a captain of the first team so I think it is natural for me to lead a team just by how I play.”

His comments will likely be welcomed by manager Sean Dyche with Garner set to be a key figure this season. He is part of a younger core of players, including the likes of Jarrad Branthwaite, that are emerging as influential figures in the dressing room under the tutelage of senior leaders such as Coleman, Tarkowski and Jordan Pickford.

Garner opened the scoring at the Peninsula Stadium, giving Everton a second half lead when he scored a free-kick from just outside the box. While he is a regular corner and deep-lying free-kick taker, Garner said he hoped that effort would boost his chances of getting the shooting opportunities that emerge, joking: “I was free-kick taker last season but I didn’t really get any chance to take them and didn’t score one – hopefully, that will cause a few of the lads to back off.”

Dyche made a series of substitutions as the second half continued, finishing the game with a host of Under-21s on the pitch. The Blues surrendered the initiative amid those changes and lost 2-1 – but Garner echoed his manager’s belief that the result was not meaningful, a claim backed up by Dyche putting his players through two of his notorious Gaffer’s Day fitness challenges in the week before the match.

Garner said: “I didn’t do Gaffer’s Day last season [he was with the England U21s squad that won that age group’s Euros] but this season we have had two. We did a Gaffer’s Day on Tuesday and Thursday so a few of the lads were still feeling it today.

“It is all in good will for going into the new season and [Salford] was just logging the minutes. The result did not quite go our way but the most important thing is getting all the lads ready for the season.”