GIVEN THAT HE was released by the club during the summer, Everton supporters were perplexed by the presence of Harry Charsley’s name on the teamsheet when the Toffees’ U23 side kicked their season off with a game against their counterparts from Wolves last month.
The 22-year-old midfielder has made four further appearances for the Premier League club’s second-string side, the most recent of which came in a 2-1 win away to Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend. He has also been named in the starting line-up for tonight’s meeting with Manchester City.
Clarifying the situation to the Liverpool Echo, Everton U23 manager David Unsworth explained that the club has handed Charsley a contract until January to enable him to complete his recovery from a troublesome back injury.
“I’ve seen a bit of press about it recently,” Unsworth said. “Harry’s been with us since he was five or six. He got injured towards the end of the season and it was a real serious injury, a stress fracture of his back.
“What we didn’t want to do and what we don’t do at this club is chuck kids to the side and not look after them. He couldn’t do anything for three or four months and we have an obligation to look after the player.
“We felt it was the right decision to give him a contract until January to get fit and stay fit. We’re on smaller numbers than we have been over the last couple of years so there’s an opportunity to increase his profile and get himself a club in January.”
Charsley made one first-team appearance for Everton in December 2017, playing the full 90 minutes at left-back in a 3-0 Europa League win away to Apollon Limassol.
When his contract at Goodison Park expired at the end of last season, he was included on the club’s list of released players alongside the likes of Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams.
The English-born player, who had a brief loan spell at Bolton Wanderers in 2018, played 15 times for the Republic of Ireland U21s, scoring twice.
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