Everton have produced some excellent players from their own academy system over the years; including the likes of Wayne Rooney and Ross Barkley.
You only have to look to the initial £40m sale of Anthony Gordon to Newcastle United in January to see how lucrative it can be to produce homegrown talents at Premier League level to make a profit.
However, as has been the case with first-team recruitment in recent years, the club have not always made the best decisions on youth team players.
One example of their questionable decision-making at academy level is talented attacker Mohamed-Ali 'Momo' Cho, who left Everton's academy to join Angers SCO in 2020.
The forward spent five years at Goodison Park, after joining from Paris Saint-Germain in 2015, and former Blues Director of Football Marcel Brands had a mare in allowing him to depart three years ago, whilst Carlo Ancelotti was the first-team manager at the time.
How much is Mohamed-Ali Cho worth?
FootballTransfers – at the time of writing (03/05/2023) – has his Expected Transfer Value (xTV) at €26.3m (£23m) and this is a result of his market price soaring over the last few years.
After leaving Everton, Cho worked his way into the first-team at Angers and made 55 senior appearances, scoring four goals and providing one assist, in two seasons with the Ligue 1 outfit.
His form for the French side earned him a move to Spanish team Real Sociedad in the summer of 2022 for a fee said to be worth up to €15m (£13.2m).
At the time of the transfer, FootballTransfers placed his xTV at €6.1m (£5.4m) and this means that his value has soared by a whopping 331% to his current €26.3m valuation since July 2022.
Cho has started four games in LaLiga this season and registered two assists whilst creating four 'big chances' for his teammates, although he is yet to land his first goal in the division.
The 19-year-old also ranks among the top 3% of players in his position in Europe's top five leagues over the last 365 days for progressive carries, successful take-ons, and assists per 90.
This shows that the talented youngster is excellent at bringing the ball up the pitch and taking opposition defenders on, leading to him creating chances for others to score.
Gordon, meanwhile, is three years older than the ex-England U16 international and does not rank higher than the top 55% in any of the aforementioned statistics in the same timeframe.
Cho, who was lauded as "intelligent" and "cultured" by ex-boss Gerald Baticle, could have burst onto the scene at Goodison Park in their first-team if Brands had managed to keep hold of the gem on professional terms, and potentially earned them a big payday as Gordon did in January.
His soaring market value is a reflection of his potential and the form he has shown at senior level in the Spanish top-flight, which illustrates the mare that the ex-Everton chief had in failing to keep him in England.