Everton sent Lewis Gibson on-loan to Fleetwood Town in January hoping a spell in the Football League under Joey Barton would offer the talented centre-back valuable experience of the senior game.
Nine games later and it looks a smart move. A really smart move.
Fleetwood are unbeaten and have kept three clean-sheets in their last five outings. Gibson, for his part, has played every minute while the run has propelled them from mid-table to fifth and two points outside the automatic promotion places.
For regular observers of Everton under-23s this will come as no surprise. The 19-year-old was an instrumental part of last season's double-winning side and looked too comfortable at youth-team level.
Everton know better than most that the loan market can be difficult to manoeuvre when finding the right temporary home for prospects but before the outbreak of coronavirus they had found the perfect fit for Gibson.
One man familiar with the current situation is Everton club captain Seamus Coleman.
“That was an incredible spell and it's probably not until now that I’m getting to the later stages of my career that I look back and realise how amazing that really was," he said recently of his 2010 stint at Blackpool.
The Irishman played a key role in a squad that reached the Premier League and he says the move 'kick-started' his career at Goodison Park.
Coleman made nine Championship appearances - losing just once - managing to register five assists and a goal.
It will be music to the ears of Gibson after he fought hard to ensure a pathway to the first-team was in place before penning fresh terms this summer.
Coleman had been handed his full Everton debut when he headed to Bloomfield Road but Gibson will hope to eventually enjoy a similar trajectory following an impressive pre-season under former boss Marco Silva.
"I thought I would be on the bench and get a couple of games here and there in the Premier League, but David Moyes thought it was a good idea to send me out," Coleman added.
“I couldn’t have gone to a better club. I think we were just outside the play-offs and we were doing really, really well and I had a manager there in Ian Holloway who said ‘enjoy yourself, no pressure’.
“I’d done quite well at Blackpool so I went back to Everton with a lot of confidence from that, knowing that I could play at that level and it really did help kick-start my career at the club.”
Coleman famously cost Everton just £60,000 and if Gibson continues treading the same pathway he will one day be considered a similar bargain.
