Next month marks 19 years since David Moyes handed Jack Rodwell his Everton debut in a UEFA Cup tie away at AZ Alkmaar.

A memorable moment for the Everton youngster, it was also one for the history books as he become the youngest player to represent the Toffees in Europe at the age of 16 years and 284 days.

Having produced some incredible talents from the club's academy, Rodwell looked destined to go on and star for Everton for years to come.

Initially viewed as having all the attributes to become a top centre-back, the player was instead utilised as a holding midfielder by Moyes at Everton and it wasn't until the 2008/09 season where his game time really started to increase.

The following season, Rodwell netted the final goal in a famous 3-1 win over Manchester United at Goodison Park.

Rodwell's fine strike showed just what he could do when in and around the final third, with club teammate Phil Jagielka believing that the academy graduate could mature into a Steven Gerrard-style attacking midfielder due to the attributes in his locker.

The Red Devils were in fact linked with a £15m move for the midfielder in 2010, only for the player to later commit his future to Everton the same year with a new five-year contract.

Rodwell, who was rewarded for his fine form with a senior England debut in 2011, did in fact make the move to Manchester in the summer of 2012, joining Manchester United's fierce rivals Man City in a £12m move that could rise to £15m.

His career at the Etihad Stadium was ultimately one to forget, though, as an injury-hit spell restricted him to only 25 appearances across two seasons prior to a move to Sunderland.

Rodwell did feature a bit more regularly at the Stadium of Light, this time making 76 appearances for the Black Cats, but he became somewhat of a villain on Wearside and is viewed by many to be the club's worst ever transfer signing.

The player was on a rather lucrative contract at the club but remained with them following their relegation to the Championship in 2017, yet he only featured in two league games that campaign as they were relegated to League One following a disastrous season, with Netflix cameras capturing everything behind the scenes in their 'Sunderland 'Til I Die' series.

Rodwell was criticised by many for how he was portrayed in the series, including footage of where he told a teammate there was "no chance" he would play in an upcoming match and also a scene where he turned down a contract termination request.

Having finally cut ties with Sunderland in 2018, Rodwell would later spend time with Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United - where he made only two appearances for the club - before later heading to Australia to play for Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC.

A sad end to a career that promised so much

Rodwell's career did certainly not play out as planned after initially breaking into the Everton team as an extremely talented 16-year-old.

Things may well have been different had he remained with the Toffees in 2012 rather than heading to Premier League champions Man City instead.

Injuries, of course, played their part as his career progressed and many will unfortunately remember him for what happened off the pitch at Sunderland rather than what he achieved on it.

There are many cases of players progressing from the academy to first team before eventually fading altogether, with Rodwell's football career unfortunately a prime example.