David Moyes says Everton are trying to sign a right-back
David Moyes shakes hands with Crystal Palace's Daniel Munoz (Photo by Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)
David Moyes shakes hands with Crystal Palace's Daniel Munoz (Photo by Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)
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David Moyes stressed he does want to sign a right-back before the end of the window despite the options he believes he has within the Everton squad.
This week, the Blues boss pointed to Nathan Patterson, Merlin Rohl, James Garner and Jake O’Brien as players he could use if the club’s longstanding issues in that position were not resolved.
But he made clear he would prefer not to have to rely on using players out of position even as he praised Rohl’s performance there in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.
Providing clarity on his position, Moyes said: “We definitely would like a right-back. We would. But I think that we're all concerned about it because it's more that, for example today, while we're playing Merlin right back, I couldn't play him in midfield as well.
“So, today keeps me short of numbers in midfield, and I'm having to balance a little bit of what we want. Look, we can still play Jake O’Brien at right-back. He's proved, certainly against a lot of the quick boys, that he's really good and he'll give us something if we need it in that position. But he prefers to be a centre back.”
On Rohl, who continued his form from a promising pre-season into the opening Premier League game of the campaign, Moyes said: “He is keen to do well and show us that he could be a right-back, Merlin. And because of that, we're happy.
"He can play other roles for us, which means that we can play him further forward, we can play them in different ways. He's got a different sort of level of athleticism to some of the other boys in some ways. And he's a good footballer, generally, and he can score if we get him closer to the goal. But he's also doing okay.
“Everybody's talking about a right-back, so I'm saying, well, I hope it's better than Jake O’Brien, I hope it's better than Merlin Rohl and what they're offering.
“And obviously, we're always trying to get better than what we've got - in every position to be truthful. You're always, as a manager, you're trying and it's not that easy to just go and get yourself better than those two. Merlin in pre-season played really well. He certainly deserves the chance to play.”