Malky Mackay, the former Watford manager and now Performance Director at the Scottish FA, is excited about the potential of Sonny Blu Lo-Everton.
The Hornets' scholar, 17, was recruited into the youth set up north of the border by Mackay and the playmaker is already a fixture in the national team's Under-19 side, making his debut against Andorra in October and being part of the momentous 1-0 win over Germany.
Lo-Everton has trained several times with the first team, under both Quique Sánchez Flores and Nigel Pearson, and his finishing caught the eye of Troy Deeney during a shooting drill the captain did with the Under-23 team in November on his way back from injury.
Lo-Everton qualifies to represent England, Scotland, China and Hong Kong so Mackay was quick to use the links at his former club to get him into the Scotland set-up last season.
“I got a tip-off that Watford had a youngster who was doing really well and had Scottish blood,” said Mackay on episode three of The View From The Vic. “I investigated, flew down and met Watford's Academy director at the training ground and met Sonny's mum and dad.
“We had a good conversation and I laid out where I thought we could go with this. I invited him to one of our warm-up games out in Spain where we were playing Czech Republic and Hungary and he spent a week with us. There was no obligation. I just wanted him to come and see what it was like and if he wanted to commit to us. If he did, great. If not, no worries. He was happy to do that and the family came out as well.
“Quite quickly I saw a youngster with great technique, a player with that rare gift of being able to beat a man and go past him. He's been with us for two years now and was part of our Under-18 side who went out to a FIFA event in Turkey, playing against Paraguay, Cameroon and Angola and he was terrific. His mum is from Leith and she had a tear in her eye when Sonny was in the Scotland shirt.”
Lo-Everton has enjoyed the straight-talking approach of Mackay and the progressive approach of the Scotland youth set-up.
“Malky has been great for me,” Lo-Everton said in an interview with the club website in October. “It's been a great experience playing up a level or two with some really good players who work hard. I just want to work hard and get in that team. Malky had a meeting with me this time last year and said how Scotland want to push players up if they are ready.”
Lo-Everton has been with the Hornets since the age of six and has regularly played up an age group, including at the start of last season when he played an Under-23 game against Nottingham Forest at the age of 15.
“I've got great hopes for him,” said Mackay, who managed the Hornets for two years. “It will be a softly, softy approach and he's still got to mature, but he's got fabulous technique. The pathway is important, about where they go from here, and that they get to play against men quickly. It's something I bang on about a lot in Scotland. We've got to get our young players out playing against men.
“We fast-tracked Billy Gilmour. We took him as a 16-year-old to the Toulon Under-20 tournament but it was always about what will he be like when he plays against men and you've seen that recently [for Chelsea]. There will be a point with Sonny when it's his turn to get out there and play men's football, but I've got high hopes for him, and I'm delighted he's a Watford player. He's a big part of our Under-19 plans.”
