Everton’s right back search has become less a transfer priority and more a long-running comedy serial. The hunt for someone – anyone – to lock down that flank has dragged on so long that Evertonians could be forgiven for treating it as a permanent fixture of the club.
Cast your mind back to last summer, when the Blues went all-in on Fulham’s Kenny Tete – only for Tete to politely snub us and re-sign at Craven Cottage anyway. Everton’s grand response was to end the entire window without bringing in a single right back, leaving David Moyes to spend the season jamming centre-half Jake O’Brien in at full-back like a man buttering bread with a spoon.
So here we are again.
Séamus Coleman has moved on, Nathan Patterson won’t get a look-in, and for long stretches of last season Moyes was shoving Jake O’Brien in at full-back – a centre-half doing an honest job in the wrong shirt.
The Blues have been linked with a whole spread of options. Here are five of them, ranked by how likely I think each is to actually get done.
1. Brooke Norton-Cuffy (Genoa)
If you want the deal most likely to cross the line, I think start here – and it’s a name we already know, because we’ve been here before. Everton sounded Norton-Cuffy out in the closing days of the January window, holding talks over a late move worth around €25m before it fizzled and he chose to see out the season in Italy. Now the Blues are back, this time pushing a deal worth about £17m, with Genoa having softened their asking price and – crucially – the player reportedly saying yes to a Premier League return. The former Arsenal youngster, still only 22, has spent two seasons turning himself from a prospect into a Serie A regular, exactly the profile Everton wants: young enough to grow, seasoned enough to start on day one.
Verdict: the realistic first-choice.
2. Rico Lewis (Manchester City)
We’re told the Blues are genuine frontrunners. Lewis, 21 and already capped by England, has slipped behind Matheus Nunes in the pecking order, and with Pep Guardiola gone and Enzo Maresca now in the Etihad dugout, City are prepared to let him leave in search of regular football. The catch is the price: around £35m, with Nottingham Forest’s £26m bid already knocked back.
He can play an orthodox right-back or invert into midfield – and if we can get the structure of a deal right, it’s a signing that could work well.
Verdict: very possible, but the fee is the whole question.
3. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (West Ham) – the value play
The pragmatic one. West Ham’s relegation to the Championship has turned Wan-Bissaka into a forced sale, and at 28 he offers exactly the Premier League-proven defending our back line has lacked.
Everton sounded out a deal as early as May, and were prepared to pay around £10 million – but West Ham want closer to £20 million.
Sunderland, Newcastle, Fulham and Fenerbahçe have all been credited with interest – while his Hammers wages aren’t small. If other deals fail, this could prove a sensible pivot.
Verdict: unglamorous, very doable.
4. Djed Spence (Tottenham) – the one drifting out of reach
A few months ago Spence looked like a smart, attainable target. Then he had a decent world cup. Inter Milan are now in talks and willing to go to around €30m, and Spurs – sensing an auction — want more than that. That’s the problem for Everton: the 25-year-old’s value has climbed at precisely the wrong moment.
Verdict: was ideal, now slipping away.
5. Guéla Doué (Strasbourg) – the dream that’s too dear
The most exciting name here, and almost certainly the least realistic. The 23-year-old Ivory Coast international – older brother of PSG’s Désiré – started three of four games at the World Cup and racked up two goals and seven assists in Ligue 1 last term. He’s a wonderful footballer. He’s also under contract until 2029, which means Strasbourg get to name their price, and that price is steep: Newcastle have been quoted around £34m, with PSG, Borussia Dortmund and Inter all reportedly keen. Valued closer to £40m with that kind of company in the room, he’s simply a bracket above where Everton are shopping this summer.
Verdict: lovely idea, wrong budget.
The verdict
Put it together and the smart money says our window gets decided at the affordable end: Norton-Cuffy to get a deal done, with Lewis the ambitious swing if the fee can be finessed, and Wan-Bissaka the ready-made safety net behind them both. Spence and Doué would each improve us – but one’s been priced up by Inter at the worst possible moment, and the other was probably never in our range to begin with.