‘Everton step up right back search amid latest transfer setback’
Everton must now step up their search for a new right-back amid another setback in their hunt.
The Toffees ended the season with Jake O’Brien primarily covering that position, and while the Republic of Ireland international performed well, that does then leave them short of centre-back depth.
Beyond O’Brien, David Moyes only has Nathan Patterson and Seamus Coleman to call upon, with the former struggling to make the grade so far in the Premier League and the latter approaching his 37th birthday and suffering from numerous injuries in recent years.
Earlier this summer, Everton made approaches for Kenny Tete and Kyle Walker, only to see the former sign a new Fulham contract and the latter move to Burnley.
Everton suffer Kyle Walker-Peters setback
Kyle Walker-Peters emerged as another potential candidate to fill Everton’s No.2 position, with Football Insider revealing in June that they and West Ham were in the race for the Tottenham academy graduate.
The two-time England international is a free agent after leaving relegated Southampton at the end of his contract, but boasts 148 games of Premier League experience to date and is still just 28 years old.
| Club | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Southampton | 202 | 7 | 12 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 24 | 1 | 5 |
| England | 2 | 0 | 0 |
However, it appears Everton must now go back to the drawing board.
Fabrizio Romano reported on Friday (18 July) that West Ham had won the race to sign Walker-Peters after a failed attempt from Turkish giants Besiktas.
The defender is set to sign a three-year deal, with the move even getting Romano’s signature ‘here we go’ approval.
What next in Everton’s right-back hunt?
This is the latest in a number of setbacks at right-back for Everton.
Alongside Tete, Walker and Walker-Peters, the Toffees lodged a bid in January for Flamengo’s Wesley Franca but came nowhere near the asking price, according to The Athletic (18 July).
That report states that Franca is now a target for Roma — who have the same ownership as Everton — while Sevilla’s Juanlu Sanchez has also been tracked but no move is yet forthcoming.
Everton have also been linked with Georgios Vagiannidis from Panathinaikos, but the Greek giants want to wait until after their Champions League qualifier against Rangers at the end of this month before accepting offers.
No clear candidate has emerged for the Toffees right now, but there’s no doubting that right-back is a position of great need for Everton and one they must now work even harder at if they’re to fill it.