Braiden Graham could be set for a breakthrough fortnight with the young Everton forward back in the senior Northern Ireland squad. It is the teenager's second call-up for Michael O'Neill's side after he was part of the camp involved in summer friendlies with France and Guinea. He was an unused substitute in both games but enters this latest international break with four opportunities to make his debut.
Should he do so, his appearance will be the latest step forward in a career that has seen him rise to become a regular feature of David Moyes' Everton squad. And it would see him make his international debut before his first involvement in a competitive game for the Blues. That honour would spark further debate around his role at the Blues and provide him a useful platform to make an impression on Moyes.
Everton role and contract situation
The Everton manager does like the 18-year-old. He became a regular feature of first-team training at Finch Farm last season and spent the summer with the senior side, earning minutes on the pitch from Dundee to Hamburg. It would also create greater urgency around securing him to a new contract given the first professional deal he signed back in 2024 will expire next year.
Graham has been an unused substitute since the end of the transfer window, when Moyes' squad shrunk amid the late sales of Nathan Patterson, Beto, Iliman Ndiaye, Tim Iroegbunam and the deal that took Adam Aznou on loan to Malaga. Only Jack Grealish and Ainsley Maitland-Niles arrived over the same period, leaving Moyes with just 18 senior outfield players. That has provided an opportunity for Graham, who has been in the matchday squad ever since, though he is yet to have been given the chance to take advantage.
Position debate and goalscoring record
One issue for Moyes is his position - Graham has been a prolific goalscorer at Under-18s and U21s for Everton but his diminutive stature has led to him being used off the wings at youth level. The Blues have just one striker, Thierno Barry, but the wide attacking areas are one of few positions of depth. That matters because Moyes sees that as his best position, recently explaining: "I don't think he's a striker, first of all. He's probably someone who would play off the sides for us."
Graham, as a result, has found himself in a tough spot - he is now considered too important to play for the U21s, but not quite ready to emerge from the bench to help the first team - where he featured twice last season, including when he was recalled from his Christmas holiday to help the squad in the Premier League game at Nottingham Forest. The step up in seniority will help him learn, but only for so long while he does not get the chance to step onto the pitch, with Moyes appearing uncertain whether the 5ft 9in attacker could ease his goalscoring issues at this early stage in his career.
He said this month: "We like Braiden, he's trained with us quite a lot and he was in pre-season with us. He's certainly moving in the right direction. It would be a difficult ask for any young player to come in and be a source for goals (in the Premier League)."
International opportunity and O'Neill's view
His call-up for Northern Ireland's Nations League games with Georgia (twice), Hungary and Ukraine might provide him with a chance to challenge that assumption. Graham may appear slight in build but that has not stopped him from becoming a ruthless goalscorer at every level he has been tested at - in his two seasons since joining from Linfield, where he made his senior debut aged 15, Graham has struck 34 goals across the U18s and U21s and averaged at better than a goal every other match. His record in big games has also been impressive, scoring against the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.
With Graham facing four international games and, domestically, it being three more months before Everton have an opportunity to strengthen in January, his big moments for club and country are coming - even if the return to fitness of Merlin Rohl and Christian Norgaard might reduce his first-team matchday exposure after this international break. That certainly appears to be the view of Northern Ireland boss O'Neill, who believes it is better to focus on Graham's talent rather than get caught up in what his best position might currently be.
Ahead of the upcoming fixtures, he said: "I think the most important thing is not to try and pigeonhole him into a position. He's adaptable and he's adaptable because he's such a good player. I think at this minute in time his best option would be to play a little bit off the side, possibly as a 10, maybe around a bigger striker if you play a front-two, which not many teams do. What he has shown us in training is a real high technical level and the ability to stick the ball in the net."
There were flashes of that in the summer, including when Graham's quick-thinking created a late winner at Hamburg - a result that served as a useful morale boost for the Blues at the time. The time for him to replicate that in a competitive game now appears to be near. O'Neill added: "Every player develops physically differently. It's very difficult to play in the Premier League as a striker, look at the profile of what clubs want as their striker. But Braiden's a very talented player, he's a very technical player, a great finisher. He has a really good left foot, he's smart in terms of how he plays."
