Three things spotted from Everton training - youngster pays punishment and Salomon Rondon leads way

Everton have continued their preparations ahead of the 2022-23 season.

The Toffees remain in America during their pre-season tour, having lost their opening friendly 2-0 to Arsenal at the weekend.

Frank Lampard’s side face Minnesota United on Thursday (01.00 BST) and he’ll be looking to see what he’s been working on in training.

And from Everton’s latest training footage they uploaded to their Youtube channel, here are three things we spotted.

Cole-style rondos

Rondos are present in most training sessions up and down the country.

They're a key exercise designed at keeping possession in tight spaces.

As the late Dutch legend Johan Cruyff said, you can replicate everything in a training game except shooting.

But to make things slightly harder, as well as develop camaraderie and team spirit, Everton coach Ashley Cole took the rondo one step further.

He made everything in the outside circle hold hands - along with the three men chasing the ball inside.

Not only that but then Cole got everyone on the outside to start moving around.

Something like that won't exactly take place in a match scenario. But passing off balance, which some were, does indeed.

And everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Mills’ punishment

Stanley Mills impressed Frank Lampard against Arsenal.

The Everton boss heaped praise on the 18-year-old's second-half performance and now looks set to keep him around the first team this term.

But Mills - the son of former England and Man City defender Danny - will remain level-headed.

Certainly, his team-mates won't let him get ahead of himself anyway.

Warming up with fellow youngsters Lewis Dobbin, Lewis Warrington and Isaac Price, it appeared that Mills lost a jovial game of 'one-bounce'.

The punishment? A flick of the ear from each of the victors.

Thankfully, it wasn't a cold day.

Rondon leads way

Salomon Rondon endured a stuttering maiden seasons at Everton, scoring only three goals in 23 games.

By his own admission, the striker suffered from having no proper training last summer. He was signed on summer transfer deadline day from Chinese club Dalian Professional.

As a consequence, Rondon had a slow start to his Goodison Park career. It wasn't helped he was thrown into action when below match fitness due to Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison being unavailable.

Yet sections of fans started to change their opinion of Rondon towards of the end of last term.

Coming off the bench, he provided a focal point they had lacked in the run-in to avoid relegation.

Now the Venezuela international heads into his second campaign on Merseyside.

And in fairness, judging by the training footage, he looks significantly sharper. There was one running exercise alongside Jean-Philippe Gbamin and Reece Welch which he set the tone for.

There was another moment during a training drill when he reacted to a loose ball and fired home with a left-foot finish.

As things stand, Rondon heads into the upcoming campaign as second-choice striker.

With Everton so far struggling to get a new attacker through the door so far, he could have an important role to play.