Right Back Where We Were
Almost incredibly, either Jake O’Brien or Merlin Röhl will line up in the right-back spot on Saturday afternoon, that despite Everton's hierarchy having had 18 months to address what is a glaring problem
In four days’ time, Everton will kick off their 2026/27 Premier League season. They will almost certainly do so again without a natural right-back in their starting XI. If you’d said that would be the case to an Evertonian 12 months ago, when the Blues lined up at Leeds United with centre-half Jake O’Brien on one side of defence and midfielder James Garner as an emergency left-back on the other, the chances are they’d have laughed and said something to the effect of, “sounds about right!”
Which rather sums up where this football club continues to be despite all the steady progress made by The Friedkin Group over the past 18 months. The response to the assertion that Everton would have failed — again! — to address their perennial problem at right-back, despite having two transfer windows to do it, should be incredulity but it’s so very on-brand that no one would be surprised that they haven’t.
As ever with discussions like this, it’s important to acknowledge that, as a club, Everton are in a very different place to where they were two years ago and that is down to the takeover by TFG. With finishing the fit-out of Hill Dickinson Stadium (not to mention landing the legal firm as sponsor of the new ground), steadying the finances and improving commercial performance, the club’s financial picture is healthier than it has been for five years under the Texan firm's stewardship.
On the pitch, the ownership have been assembling a squad of talented young players, accented by key acquisitions to add experience where needed, with what appears to be an eye trained on the horizon beyond the current incumbent of the managerial hot seat's tenure.
For the second season running Everton will begin a new season with a fair amount of optimism, albeit for slightly different reasons. Last year it was the new stadium, the illusion of a new, more expansive David Moyes, and the arrivals of the likes of Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall; this time it’s the pre-season form of a number of those younger players like Harrison Armstrong, Tyler Dibling and Thierno Barry coupled with the signings of Hayden Hackney and Christian Nørgaard.
There’s also a strong — albeit diminishing — chance that the club will sign a right-back before the transfer window closes on 1st September but, even if one were to arrive in the coming days before the kick-off against Crystal Palace, it’s almost certain that the new arrival won’t be in the side that faces the Eagles, Bournemouth or even Manchester United on the 6th. It’s just not the Moyes way to throw a new arrival straight into the team.
Which means that regardless of all the mitigation, the reasons for why and the excuses, Everton’s quest to find a new first-choice right-back has, indeed, been a failure. That failure will be categorial and unforgivable if one doesn’t arrive before the deadline but, for now, it’s damning enough.
Last summer, it was rationalised away as a step too far for a scouting and recruitment setup that was still incomplete pending the arrivals of James Smith and Nick Cox and which had been charged with replacing an unprecedented number of departing players.
Moyes spent most of the 2025/26 pre-season moaning about a lack of incoming transfers but the club eventually signed seven new outfield players, spending well over £100m in the process. It wasn’t quite the achievement of newly-promoted Sunderland, who acquired 15 players, but it was enough to offer hope that a crack at the top half of the table was possible if all went well.
And, of course, despite an awful home record, a lack of any consistency in the centre-forward position, and a general struggle to settle into an identifiable playing style under Moyes, by March the door was open not only to the Europa League but there was also the sliver of a chance of making the Champions League.
What followed over the final seven games of the 2025/26 campaign is now painful history but if there were any lessons to be learned, chief among them surely were that Everton needed not only a quality starting right-back but there was a strong need to upgrade at left-back as well.
TFG had demurred when faced with the chance to twist last January, electing to keep their powder dry for this summer, but while another £60m-plus has thus far been committed on new signings to bolster the midfield, the full-back positions remain untouched.
We can only go on the dribs and drabs of information that seem to have leaked out in recent weeks but, where right-back at least is concerned, it hasn’t been for the want of trying. The sticking points, so the speculation goes, have been a lack of consensus among the transfer committee over the exact profile of player the club should be targeting and, like a year ago, Everton’s inability to offer European football to prospective targets.
Guela Doué was identified as the top choice but Strasbourg’s £40m valuation has proved a major stumbling block. As explored on these pages last month, the French club may end up reducing their demands but that will likely only bring in more competition capable of offering the Ivory Coast international the Continental football he reputedly craves.
RB Leipzig’s Riedle Baku has supposedly outlined to the Blues’ transfer committee the same desire, ruling him out as an option while Djed Spence’s form for England at the World Cup has landed him a plumb move to Internazionale.
Meanwhile, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, an expensive option who does not fit the age profile that Everton have been chasing, has emerged as a target for Aston Villa and Alistair Johnston, a possible stop-gap who would do a job for a season or two if all else failed, has been ruled out after sustaining another injury on duty for Celtic.
Where that leaves the Toffees with two weeks left of the window is anyone’s guess but, to be blunt, it’s become a little pathetic and embarrassing.
Daniel Muñoz has emerged in recent days as a possible target, again, with rumours of disagreement between the stakeholders at Finch Farm, either over the reported £20m fee to sign a 30-year-old or misgivings on the part of the manager over a player who has played primarily as a wing-back for Crystal Palace.
Fulham have been approached over the availability of Timothy Castagne, another depressingly unimaginative but “okay in a pinch” option but the Blues have reportedly been knocked back. And Ben White, 28, is still theoretically available even though he, too, wouldn’t come cheap and isn’t a natural full-back either.
It’s all the more frustrating when you consider, based on Everton’s improvement over the course of their pre-season programme and the ball-playing additions the club have made in central midfield, just how big a difference having two high-quality full-backs would make to this team. It's not unreasonable to suggest it could be the difference between further mid-table mediocrity and Europe.
The committee are said to be eyeing reinforcements at both left-back and right-back with Adam Aznou still not regarded by Moyes as being Premier League ready from a defensive point of view. Vitalii Mykolenko has proven his credentials on the defensive side, is limited going forward but punting on upgrading his position would be palatable if some real quality could be acquired at right-back.
That looks a fair way off at the moment. Either O’Brien or Merlin Röhl will be on the team sheet in the right-back spot come Saturday and neither square peg belongs in that round hole.
In the 26 years since the turn of the millennium, Everton have signed precisely four players who could be described as specialist right-backs in permanent deals — Steve Watson, Lars Jacobsen, Seamus Coleman, and Nathan Patterson. (Phil Neville and Cuco Martina ended up playing there regularly, as did a number of centre-backs not initially signed for that purpose.)
Granted, the longevity of service provided by Tony Hibbert and Coleman negated the need to address that position for the better part of two decades but it’s a part of the team that has been neglected for far too long.
TFG are, of course, not responsible for the bulk of this sorry timeline but they have been for the last 18 months. It is very much their problem now and the ceiling of Everton’s prospects for the coming season likely depend on them resolving it in an effective manner.
Reader Responses
Selected thoughts from readers18/08/2026 00:07:49
The cynic in me immediately thought of Tottenham's interest in him and I resigned myself to him ending up there!
18/08/2026 00:40:22
Munoz? Arguably the best right back in the premier league, I’ve heard Spurs are looking at him but he won’t be ahead of Porro so unless his ok with being a back up I can’t see him going there either. If he comes to us I’d be absolutely astonished, plus he doesn’t fit Moyes’ system — he’s too attacking.
I can’t help but think it’s sheer incompetence from TFG not to of sorted out this mess by now, I’m sure they would’ve been aware of the situation and just how ridiculous it’s becoming, it’s not a good look for them I’ll tell you that much.
18/08/2026 00:52:55
I have been watching this space for a long time and it seems the same old same old keeps coming up. I have also been a believer you can not turn cow dung into strawberry jam. The club needs to bite the bullet and spend the money on the the players like other clubs do and not try to do it on the cheap.
Good players get taken by other clubs because they see the value in these guys. Everton’s recruiting team thinks like, “lets get a cheap banger of a car, dress it up to look like Rolls Royce, maybe it will become one.” We all know the answer to that don't we.
We need to do better, team. Start thinking outside the box. If this club is going to make an impact this season, we need a decent right back now.
18/08/2026 00:55:21
Oh and as a further note if I may,
Moyes has just broke his silence on Sky saying “we could do with a few more” (signings) we’ve not got quite enough and we want more, let’s see how the last 2 weeks go. Same talk at the end of every summer window hahaha David’s David and I love him for that.
18/08/2026 05:51:53
During the lulls at the Lille match, shouts of "hey moysie, sign a fucking right back" echoed out several times. Funny the first time but embarrassing after that. I think Rohl can do a job there moreso than Jake. However Mykolenko was poor and Aznu made a couple of mistakes so I'd be just as worried about left back. Thierno Barry was unimpressive too. We really do need to strengthen up in these areas. The Xfer committee know this only too well, I'm sure, but they seem to be sticking to their parameters which is admirable in a way, given how we have thrown money away over the past decade. However, at some point we need to take a chance and make a signing, nobody has a crystal ball that can predict how a player will perform over the course of their contract.
We had this problem in the 80s when Ian Snodin became our right back by proxy.
Oh and Séamus Coleman is still available, having been training with the Killybegs GAA team, meaning he is super fit!!
Either way, can't wait for the season to start, good luck to the lads and up the toffees!!
18/08/2026 06:50:16
Alan #6, you sure you tuned in the correct game?
Mykolenko created our only goal with a perfect lob to KDH and gave up nothing at the back.
18/08/2026 07:04:14
Lyndon, your article exposes not just the underlying frustration but also also disrint unease that come the end of the transfer window all we may see are one or two loans.
The frustration with the manager, recruitment team and owners in not getting their act together smacks of underlying trust between all parties.
I have tried (I really have) not to pen another "Moyes must go" article because to a great extent its all repetition of what's already been said.
But it hasn't.
Right now David Moyes has reverted to type. What we see now is the manager bunkering down, refusing to discuss or debate anything since the Branthwaite leaks scenario last season. The change has been significant, a refusal to answer questions, being deceitful when he does, sullen. A real sea change from the bubbly return not so long ago. It is a rerun of what he does and has done at all teams and usually ends up being sacked.
The underlying mistrust between all parties is clear to see. Moyes has said he has the final say on player recruitment, clearly its not gone the way any of them wanted and probably not for the same reason. Are there funds available? Are the players the recruitment team identify the same Moyes wants? Clearly too that's not a show of unity, pragmatic Moyes preferring experience over potential talent, a balance of cost verses quality. Then there is the matter of TFG and Moyes. The collapse of last season was a sobering one for Desperate Dan, any thought of an extention of his contract has gone and with it the money to rebuild under his watch. The CEOs phase two summer rebuild has stopped dead in its tracks.
All in all the writing appears to be on the wall..
So I decided to ask the new God AI the question, what's the problem. It's response was a loss of trust by all concerned and it's likely to hit a major roadblock when the first set of poor results hit. I think that's exactly how it will play out unless the plug is pulled now or we hit the ground running. Anyone taking bets?
18/08/2026 07:44:12
You are absolutely right Christine.
Who knows exactly what is going on behind the scenes but it does point to a falling out between the main players.
If we don’t sign a proper, quality, right back before the window closes, or bring someone in on loan as a stop gap, then the fan base, myself included, will be up in arms and a poor start will pretty much do for Moyes.
For the first time in a long time I’m not really looking forward to the season and if we start with O’Brien at right back then I’ll expect us to lose on Saturday.
We could all see how O’Brien was taken to the cleaners the last few games of last season so let’s not repeat the performance.
I’m usually a glass half full person but I’m fearing the worst this season.
Happy to be proved wrong.
18/08/2026 07:44:12
You are absolutely right Christine.
Who knows exactly what is going on behind the scenes but it does point to a falling out between the main players.
If we don’t sign a proper, quality, right back before the window closes, or bring someone in on loan as a stop gap, then the fan base, myself included, will be up in arms and a poor start will pretty much do for Moyes.
For the first time in a long time I’m not really looking forward to the season and if we start with O’Brien at right back then I’ll expect us to lose on Saturday.
We could all see how O’Brien was taken to the cleaners the last few games of last season so let’s not repeat the performance.
I’m usually a glass half full person but I’m fearing the worst this season.
Happy to be proved wrong.
18/08/2026 09:44:19
Obviously very disappointing not to have signed a quality RB already.
I do disagree with some of the comments in the article and generally though.
The main thing is that £100m is NOT a lot of money. It gets trotted out so often but only a poor / small club would look at a spend of £100m in that way. Last summer's spend was in fact 14th in the Premier League.
The knock on effect of this is simple, we had a lot of players to buy and bed-in last summer and any number of competing priorities for a small transfer kitty. Personally a RB would have been top priority for me. However, the club took the view that it could manage with O'Brien (who had performed surprisingly well as a stand-in the previous season) and Garner (especially since we were pretty well stocked with central midfielders).
If we had had even a medium sized transfer kitty last summer (the mode and median averages were about £200m), we could have had a RB of real quality. There are no two ways about it.
This summer, the issue again seems to be financial constraints. Every signing so far has shown TFG to be hunting for value / quality at low cost (i.e. small fees of no more than £25m).
We know who the main targets are - they are / were Lewis, Norton-Cuffey, Spence, Wan-Bissaka, White, Johnston and a few others. Unfortunately, our budget and circumstance have gone against us.
Unfortunately Spence had such an unexpectedly good world cup that his price probably increased by about 25% and he earned a move to Inter to replace Dumfries.
It then looked as though Johnston was about to sign but he got injured in what was expected to be his last game for Celtic. He wasn't top of my list but he's a decent specialist RB, English-speaking and experience of playing in British football. So for the very small fee of c. £15m looked like decent business.
So then we are looking at the other options again.
The club will, I expect, view Wan-Bissaka and White as non ideal signings due to their age and wages (at odds with pretty much everything TFG have done since arrival). White also has injury issues. However, at a low cost (say under £20m) they might we worth it as a stop gap. We are probably waiting to see which of West Ham or Arsenal blink first.
Otherwise, Rico Lewis was back in the team at City for the Charity Shield so City may not be willing to let him go.
Norton-Cuffey (at 22 and low wages) would be a good signing after a successful spell in Italy but it looks like Genoa want £20m to £25m which seems beyond our budget unfortunately - unless we can offload some players. Or unless they give in and sell as we get closer to the deadline.
The injury to Iroegbunam (and Hull's purchase of the very similar Gourna-Douath) may have scuppered a £20m (+) RB signing. Without sale proceeds from an Ndiaye departure, we are probably out of the market for more expensive options like Doue (to the extent he would have considered us).
Hence casting the net a bit wider and looking at the likes of Munoz who may now be available within budget, but doesn't look a good fit for our defensive structure.
There are still lots of options - I've noted down 13 others that we've been strongly linked to in the last 6 months (many in the last few weeks).
So it does seem very likely still that we are hunting for a RB and will get one - but the financial position means it is going down to the wire.
18/08/2026 10:45:38
I am someone who only goes on this site to enjoy reading the well written articles/comments especially those of Christine and Jerome which I normally nod in agreement with.
However, after reading David Moyes' comments yesterday, I feel that I have to vent my spleen (please feel free to disagree with me, I'm new at this).
Moyes (I refuse to call him Davey, he's not my friend) has already made his excuses for failure before a ball has been kicked. It is a ploy he has used at every club he has managed,especially it seems at Sunderland and look what happened there!
And mentioning Sunderland brings me to my other pet hate about Moyes.
He says that Hackney needs time to adapt to Premiership football (he and Dyche are cut from the same cloth). Which probably means he won't be getting many starts once Garner and Nørgaard are fit.
I just wonder how many Sunderland players had kicked a ball in Premiership before last season? They seemed to adapt quite quickly didn't they?
If I didn't love this club so much I wouldn't be upset if he took us down.
Rant over.
UTFT
18/08/2026 10:54:39
Just shows how new I am to this, I meant to put my comment in the 'Being Prepared' article.
Apologies
18/08/2026 12:29:05
I think it’s all snowball effect from whether or not Ndiaye stays or not. If he stays, there’s no desire to pay anything more than £20 million for a right back, which limits choices greatly. I think Moyes is keen to get a decent RB in but there’s friction about spend limits for certain positions. I still think there’ll be a flurry of last minute activity, with dropping prices - which hopefully throws up both a RB and a LB.
If not, let’s not forget that we’ll be so stacked in midfield that Garner and Röhl are both available for that RB role. Garner especially can come inside to play a more midfield role like he did to great effect against Fulham, so we’re not as badly off on the right this season as was glaringly obvious last season. I’d still much rather see a proper RB of course, but it’s not quite as catastrophic a situation as is being portrayed. IMHO.
18/08/2026 14:13:53
John yes agreed. I'm actually more concerned about centre back. If we lose Jarrad, our options look thin indeed.
18/08/2026 14:24:52
Rumours are that we are vying with Fulham for Norton-Cuffey.
So that'll be the 22 y.o. going to Fulham and we get the player he'll replace in the 30 y.o. Castagne!
18/08/2026 14:55:23
Going to be interesting two weeks.Moyes is likely to throw our concerns back at us.
18/08/2026 15:13:22
The centre-back concerns ease if we buy a RB - since that means O'Brien can focus on his natural position (and hopefully avoids us ever having to see Tarkowski paired with Keane again).
Even then, depending on what is available last minute - we could still get an additional CB. It looks like the club would like one given very strong interest in Harwood-Bellis, Diao and Cramma (and others) in recent weeks. However, it all comes down to money again.
If we could end up with Harwood-Bellis and Norton-Cuffey that would be a great result. Young yet still experienced and played together already for the England U21s too. Here's hoping.
18/08/2026 15:20:47
@Christine (8) - your points to me highlight exaclty why Moyes should have gone at the end of last seasobn, to allow for a new manager to arrive and develop their own squad.
Who knows what is really going on inside the club, and how many players have been approached and said no... yet the apparent 18month search is (at present at least) a failure, and this is a sad indictment on the club.
That said - Röhl is a magician and did well against Lille for my money.
18/08/2026 15:45:02
Norton-Cuffey ticks a lot of boxes, much more than Muñoz or Ben White. He’s a London boy, though, so we’ll need Tyrique to talk him out of going to Fulham.
18/08/2026 15:51:15
Personally I feel the dye has already been cast, that TFG has made the business decision to utilize Moyes until his contract expires or results jeopardize survival in the league. The logical flow on from that means Moyes will be restricted on purchases to needs must, loans and a make do approach until a successor can be appointed.
That means of course that our CEOs much awaited 2nd phase of rebuild will be consolidation. With TFG spending as little as possible but enough to stay away from the drop.
That's how it reads to me. Moyes can't even do a "back me or sack me" because he knows they won't. He is finding the comfy seat he had under Kenwright has been thrown out, this owner is way too savvy for him.
Doesn't help us or the team though does it?
18/08/2026 16:31:13
Any young Backs coming in I can't see Moyes playing them.
18/08/2026 16:40:40
Do you mean young full-backs like Baines and Hibbert when they were first given their chance, Jerome?
It does look like the fairly strict (too strict?) criteria is:
1. under £20m, since we can't afford more.
2. experience of British football / speaks English, since that will allow for a short settling in period.
Which is why the likes of Munoz, Castagne and now Geertruida are now featuring as options alongside targets we've been chasing for longer. These (and Wan-Bissaka and White) are not ideal for various reasons - but lets be honest they do improve us significantly.
Personally I'd rather have Norton-Cuffey as a long term solution. He's earned a Premier League move after performing well on a series of lower league loan, England U21s and having the balls to go and take his career up a notch in Serie A. But beggars can't be choosers...
18/08/2026 16:43:07
I expect the club to sign a right back in this window. The CEO provides reassurance on that in his interview now available on BBC Sounds. It is important we get a right back but it needs to be the right player at the right price. If that means a deal won’t be done until the end of the window, so be it. It’s frustrating but no worse than that.
18/08/2026 17:34:40
Robert#23
Moyes will not put them straight into the team.He will go with the experienced tried and tested, even though they make errors.To Moyes the system is more important and who is prepared to carry it out.
18/08/2026 18:47:07
John # 24 - right player at the right price sounds boringly sensible to me. We can compare him to Ipswich’s Ouattara and Bournemouth’s Sanchez at the end of the season.
18/08/2026 20:03:21
Two long-overdue interviews with Angus Kinnear have now been posted, one with the BBC and the other with Baz at EvertonTV.
And Kinnear emphatically puts the lie to some of Everton fans' most fervently shared rumours -- that Dan Friedkin is willing to settle for mediocrity, that funds are tight, that Moyes and the recruitment team are at loggerheads over player priorities (sorry, Christine), that there's a "falling out between the main players" (sorry, Peter), or that the club overall lacks ambition (an especially frustrating accusation to Kinnear).
Unless you think the man is a pathological liar, it's impossible to watch the long interview with Baz (I'm blocked from BBC Sound) and not believe that he and his colleagues are passionate about delivering European football to Everton next season. He's specific about his regard for last season as a failure (one stupid remark notwithstanding), the rapidly rising revenue numbers (now 265 million, up 35% YOY), the club's long-term confidence in youngsters like Dibling and Aznou, and his belief that they will secure not only a right back but the right back they most want for the long term (spot on, John #24).
I say we must judge the transfer window the same way we should judge Friedkin -- by where we are at the finish.
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17/08/2026 00:05:02
Saw a video on X of Munoz apparently waving goodbye to the Palace fans after their last friendly. Are Palace just waiting to get our game against them out of the way before letting him come to us?
That's what I've convinced myself is happening anyway.