Jake O’Brien’s Future at Everton: Centre-Back or Right-Back?
Jake O’Brien is edging towards the Goodison Park door, and with him goes another strand of Everton’s long Irish thread.
For two seasons he has done a job on the right of defence. A good one, at times an excellent one. But it is not where he sees his future, not where he built his reputation. The 25-year-old wants to go back to the middle, back to centre-half, and that desire now looks strong enough to push him out of Merseyside.
Everton paid £17m (€19.9m) to prise him from Lyon in the summer of 2024 after a breakout campaign in Ligue 1. Thirty-two games at centre-back, five goals, and a December player of the month award won ahead of Vitinha, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Kylian Mbappé. That was the version of Jake O’Brien Everton thought they were signing.
Instead, his first season in blue turned into an unexpected apprenticeship at right-back. He eased his way into the side and ended up filling in for Seamus Coleman, the ageing captain whose body was no longer willing to play every minute. O’Brien embraced it, learned it, and kept his place.
Last season, the pattern hardened. David Moyes leaned on him again on the flank, trusting his 6ft 6in frame, his dominance in the air and his defensive instincts. Forty appearances underlined how much the manager valued him. He was a wall at the back post, a giant at set pieces, and quicker across the ground than many had assumed.
But the same qualities that made him so effective out wide screamed “centre-back” to anyone watching. Defence-first mindset. Aerial authority. Power over panache. While modern full-backs are judged on overlaps and cut-backs, O’Brien’s game stayed rooted in the basics of stopping attacks. The attacking thrust expected of a top-flight right-back never quite came, and the novelty of playing out of position has clearly worn thin for the Cork native.
The opening day of the new Premier League season sharpened the issue. Everton beat Crystal Palace and kept a clean sheet, with new captain James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite locking down the central roles. O’Brien watched it from the bench. The only other defenders among the substitutes were Michael Keane and Nathan Patterson.
Then came another sign. Moyes handed a start at right-back to new signing Merlin Röhl, a versatile midfielder compared in style to Leon Goretzka. If that wasn’t a message about the pecking order on the flank, it was hard to know what was.
Clubs have noticed. With the transfer deadline closing in, Premier League sides are circling. Sunderland, Leeds and former club Crystal Palace are all reported to be interested, with teams in Italy and France also monitoring the situation. O’Brien suddenly has options.
Everton, though, have a problem. A late sale would leave them light at right-back. Coleman, who has been training with his old GAA club Killybegs, is still weighing up his professional future after leaving Merseyside last year. Replacing his influence is a challenge on its own. Replacing his minutes on the pitch is another.
Coleman’s legacy at Everton looms large over this whole conversation. Signed from Sligo Rovers for under £100,000, he went on to make 434 appearances in all competitions. Many around the club argue he ranks among the greatest value-for-money signings in Premier League history. He was offered a coaching role when he left but turned it down, apparently determined to keep playing. His last cap for Ireland came in June; at 37, he still believes there is more in his legs.
Some imagined a neat succession plan: Coleman guiding O’Brien, the next Irish defender to anchor the right side of Everton’s back line. Instead, O’Brien looks set to break away, driven by his wish to play in his preferred role.
If he goes, Everton’s Irish presence shrinks to one. Mark Travers, the back-up goalkeeper, will carry the flag alone. He did not play a single Premier League or FA Cup minute last season, featuring only twice in the Carabao Cup, and he is poised for another year behind Jordan Pickford.
All of this unfolds against a tight deadline. The window shuts at 11pm on Tuesday. Squads are settling, and room to manoeuvre is shrinking fast.
Everton CEO Angus Kinnear has already admitted the club wanted a right-back in the door last season.
“I’m confident that we’ll bring a right back in,” he told BBC Radio Merseyside. “It’s a position we’ve needed. I think Jake has done a sterling job for us in that position.
“It was something that we were trying to do last summer and didn’t feel that we could get the quality in.
“A right-back was top priority in the window, we would have liked to have got it done earlier.
“I understand the fans’ frustrations; I understand how they see it as being critical.
“So, we are working hard to bring one in and I’m sure we will. I’m sure it will be an improvement, and it will round off the squad nicely.”
Those words seemed to offer O’Brien a route back to his natural home in the centre of defence. A new specialist right-back arrives, he fights Tarkowski and Branthwaite for a central spot, and the story moves on.
Instead, with days left in the window, he stands at a crossroads. Stay and scrap for a place in a system that keeps shunting him wide, or walk away and pick a club willing to build around him as a centre-half in the prime of his career.
Everton already face the daunting task of moving on from a captain as influential as Coleman. If O’Brien follows him out, the final days of this window may define not just their defensive line, but the future shape of the club’s identity.
