Ellis Simms discusses his disjointed pre-season at Everton and willingness to learn at Sunderland

The 21-year-old moved to Wearside on loan from Goodison Park last month and made an immediate impact by scoring twice in a 3-2 win at Bristol City.

Simms travelled with the Everton squad for their pre-season tour of America this summer but didn’t feature for Frank Lampard’s side in their friendly matches.

“I went to America and my game time during pre-season has been a bit limited,” Simms told the Echo after the win over Bristol City. “I have only managed to have 45 minutes very early on in an in-house game.

“I just had to get my fitness in in the training so I’ve been working hard, doing extra runs, just so I’m ready.

“I knew going on loan was a possibility so I just needed to make sure I was physically ready.

“I feel like I’m ready now. I know the Championship is a tough league and there are a lot of games so I just need to continue working hard in training and getting fitter day by day.”

Simms has also been keen to learn from his team-mates, including Everton frontman Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has since been sidelined with a knee injury, and Sunderland striker Ross Stewart.

“Obviously in training I can kind of see what he does and just look at little things that he does in training and in the games,” replied Simms when asked about Calvert-Lewin.

“Sometimes if it works in the Prem then I can maybe take a few notes from that and maybe apply it to my game. He’s a great striker so it’s always nice to have him to learn from.

“I’ve learnt a lot, obviously there are quality players at Everton that I have been training with so you can learn from them.

“Obviously Ross here last year did very well and had a good goalscoring record so it’s good to learn from him as well. I know I’ve not been here too long but you can see his qualities as well.”