David Moyes Prioritizes Right-Back Signing for Everton
David Moyes is adamant. Everton need a right-back before the transfer window closes.
The manager has experimented, shuffled and improvised, but he does not want to live the season like that. Not if he can help it.
Across pre-season and into the opening Premier League win over Crystal Palace, Moyes has leaned on versatility to plug a gap the club have been trying to fix for far too long. Nathan Patterson, Merlin Rohl, James Garner and Jake O’Brien have all been name-checked as possible solutions. None of them, though, is the specialist he really wants.
“We definitely would like a right-back. We would,” Moyes said, stripping away any doubt over his stance.
The problem is not that he distrusts the players he has. It is that every emergency solution creates another problem somewhere else.
On Saturday, Merlin Rohl started at right-back in the 2-0 victory over Palace and impressed again, carrying his eye-catching pre-season form into the competitive arena. Moyes liked what he saw – but he also felt the cost.
“For example today, while we're playing Merlin right-back, I couldn't play him in midfield as well,” he explained. “So, today keeps me short of numbers in midfield, and I'm having to balance a little bit of what we want.”
That balance has defined Everton’s approach to the position. Rohl offers energy, mobility and a calmness on the ball that Moyes clearly values. The manager sees him as more than a stop-gap defender.
“He is keen to do well and show us that he could be a right-back, Merlin. And because of that, we're happy,” Moyes said. “He can play other roles for us, which means that we can play him further forward, we can play him 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.”
That last line is telling. Rohl is “doing okay” at right-back. Moyes wants more than okay.
Jake O’Brien is another who has been dragged into the debate. The defender has already shown he can cope in that channel, especially against pace.
“Look, we can still play Jake O’Brien at right-back,” Moyes said. “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.”
So the picture is clear. Everton have players who can fill in. They do not yet have the out-and-out right-back Moyes craves.
“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,” he said. “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.”
That is the tightrope: reward those who have stepped up, while still pushing the club to upgrade.
Moyes will keep using what he has. Rohl’s emergence, O’Brien’s adaptability and Patterson’s presence mean he is not walking into games unarmed. But his message as the window ticks down is unmistakable.
Everton can cope without a new right-back. Moyes wants them to compete with one.
