Stanley Mills was at home with his parents when his phone buzzed with a message he was not expecting.
It was midway through the summer, pre-season was gathering momentum and he was preparing for the trip to York he had been told he would be going on - a joint training camp with Everton’s Under-18s and Under-21s. Then a WhatsApp message from the club came through that changed everything. Frank Lampard wanted to take him to the USA.
Less than six months later the teenager would be putting his hand up to take a penalty in a shootout against Celtic during his second overseas tour with the senior squad. He would have made his first team debut, signed a new contract and have been involved in a Premier League matchday squad.
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But back to that summer’s day when Mills was thinking of York, not Washington DC, Baltimore or Minneapolis. It was around midday the message came through. “It was crazy”, he told the ECHO. “I was at home with my parents and was like ‘guys I'm going to America’. They were buzzing for me. I was buzzing. It was just surreal really… I didn't think I was going. I think a couple of days before the tour they said I was going to York with the U21s so then I got the itinerary for the first team sheet and I was on it so I was buzzing. It was a surprise.”
Lampard said on the pre-season tour that Mills was a late addition after impressing in the early days following the return from the summer break. He did not just travel with the squad, he got onto the pitch for the second half against Arsenal and looked comfortable on the right side. He was actually involved in one of the game’s few talking points - the then 18-year-old refusing to back down when targeted in an incident that ultimately saw James Tarkowski stride to his support.
He then split the second half with fellow academy graduate Lewis Warrington in Minneapolis. By the time pre-season was over, Mills was one of just 14 players to have played in all four first-team friendlies after getting minutes against Blackpool and Dynamo Kyiv on the club’s return to the UK. By August he had collected plaudits from Lampard, Leon Osman and Anthony Gordon - who said of Mills: “It's been different for me because I am usually the youngest one so to have them [the academy talents] has been a bit weird, I feel old now, but Stanley has been really good on the tour so he can be proud of himself.”
Since then Mills has torn apart Football League and Under-21s defences. He’s scored against League Two sides Harrogate Town and Hartlepool United in the Papa John’s Trophy and Liverpool, Brighton, Manchester City and Crystal Palace for the academy. In the final week before the World Cup break he came on at Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup to earn his second first team appearance - his debut coming against Fleetwood Town in the earlier round. He was on the bench for the league trip to Bournemouth days later.
Reflecting on his remarkable rise after coming on against Celtic in the Sydney Super Cup, Mills said: “I don't tend to think about it to be honest, I just turn up, play football, that's what I do, but it's going well at the moment so I will just keep working hard and keep continuing. I'm very happy, it was good to come on in a competitive game [at Bournemouth]. It was a disappointing result but a good personal milestone for me to come on and get more minutes in the first team.”
Lampard has a reputation for supporting the development of young players and Mills has been a beneficiary of that approach. Like Warrington, Reece Welch, Tom Cannon and - most vividly in Sydney - Isaac Price. For Mills the opportunities he and his young teammates keep getting are a source of inspiration: “It's great, you can see with the gaffer if you are playing well he is going to give young players a chance. Isaac played [against Celtic] and played really well. He deserved his chance so hopefully I will get a chance to start soon.”
Mills, whose dad Danny represented England and helps him analyse his performances, has now had a lot of exposure to the first team and feels more confident in the presence of the senior squad - the experience and the support, in particular of Seamus Coleman, helpful. He admitted he still gets “butterflies” every time he is called up at Finch Farm.
It does help that he has other U21s going through the process with him - including Warrington, who is now on loan at Fleetwood, and Cannon, who came on alongside him in the Carabao Cup tie at Bournemouth. The pair came on together against Western Sydney Wanderers and it was Mills’ shot that the hosts’ keeper fumbled, allowing Cannon to pounce. Of their relationship, Mills said: “It's really good. We just learn off each other. We buzz off each other. We get experience together and it's just good to learn and be around each other.”
Mills, who in August signed a new three-year contract with the club until the end of June 2025, may still get butterflies around the first team but he had the bravery to volunteer to take a penalty in the shootout against Celtic. It was saved by Joe Hart, but Everton still went on to win - and therefore claim the Sydney Super Cup. Was he nervous? “I was nervous yeah, I think it would be weird not to be. I tried to do what I normally do but it was a good save.”
Despite the disappointment he was still full of positivity after being handed another opportunity by Lampard, saying: “It was good. It was another good experience to play against a big team like Celtic out here in Australia. It was good fun.” Perhaps the biggest mark of Mills’ rise is that, less than six months after that call up to the USA trip, he is experienced enough around the first team to now be turning into a mentor himself - working with 16-year-old defender Ishe Samuels-Smith during his recent exposure to the senior squad and training. Mills explained: “When Ishe comes up I definitely help him out because he is new to the group, so I take him by my side and try and help him by introducing him to the lads.”
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