While it was positive to finally see him in a competitive game for Everton following his summer move from Arsenal, it turned out to be a bad move by David Moyes.

Norgaard looked well off the pace, surrendering a three-vs-one counter opportunity to Chelsea just moments after coming on, and his foul on Cole Palmer led to the free-kick from which Chelsea scored their second. It was certainly a cameo to forget, but Moyes’ decision to introduce Norgaard was highly questionable.

Clearly, he needs to build his minutes, but it seems Everton missed a golden opportunity to do that last night.

Everton should have given Christian Norgaard U21s minutes

Last night the Everton U21s were in Premier League International Cup action against German side Borussia Monchengladbach. The game finished 1-1, with Ceiran Loney on target for the Toffees.

With Norgaard clearly needing to build his match fitness and sharpness, this might well have been an opportunity for him. Rules permit that youth teams can name three overage outfield players in their squad, as well as one overage goalkeeper.

But seemingly there was no consideration of letting Norgaard get some involvement.

That’s a shame, because time is of the essence with Everton’s squad being as small as it is. It is paramount that David Moyes has as many players as fit and available as possible.

It won’t be ideal for Norgaard to just be building his minutes in Premier League games. Surely it would make sense to try and speed the process along by getting him involved with the U21s.

It feels like Everton missed a bit of a trick by not letting him play last night.

One hopes that Norgaard didn’t pick up a knock or anything against Chelsea. Everton have not yet released any photos from training this week, so it’s impossible to say at this stage whether he actually would have been able to play some minutes for the U21s.

Hopefully, the Dane will be up to speed as quickly as possible, as he could potentially become a very key player. Anders Limpar believes Norgaard could ‘run the show’ for Everton, and Moyes is likely to want to lean on him a fair bit with his experience.