Jake O’Brien's Everton Future in Jeopardy
Jake O’Brien’s Everton future is hanging by a thread, and with it, the club’s long, proud Irish line.
The Cork defender has spent two seasons grafting on the right of Everton’s back four. Two seasons out of position. Two seasons doing a job, not living his footballing life. At 25, with his prime years staring him in the face, he wants to go back to where he believes he truly belongs: centre-half.
A centre-back trapped at right-back
Everton paid £17m (€19.9m) to prise O’Brien from Lyon in the summer of 2024, on the back of a breakout year in France. Thirty-two games at centre-back. Five goals. A December player of the month award ahead of Vitinha, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Kylian Mbappé. He arrived on Merseyside with the profile of a modern, dominant central defender.
He didn’t arrive expecting to be Seamus Coleman’s stand-in.
Year one, he eased his way into the side and found his path blocked in the middle. The door that opened was at right-back, where an ageing and often injured Coleman needed cover. O’Brien stepped in, did what was asked and stayed there.
Last season, David Moyes trusted him again on that flank. Not for his overlaps or whipped crosses, but for his six-foot-six frame, his timing in the air and his defensive instincts. In 40 appearances, he showed exactly why coaches love him: strong in duels, commanding at set pieces, quick enough over the ground to shut things down before they became problems.
Those are centre-back traits. Everyone knows it. So does he.
Out wide, the game demands something different now. Full-backs are playmakers, wingers, extra midfielders. O’Brien gave Everton security, but not the relentless attacking thrust that has become the standard at the top level. For a natural central defender, the compromise has started to grate.
Benched, then bypassed
The opening day of the Premier League season underlined his situation. Everton beat Crystal Palace, kept a clean sheet, and O’Brien watched it from the bench. James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite locked down the centre-back spots. They justified Moyes’ faith.
On the bench, alongside O’Brien, the only other defensive options were Michael Keane and Nathan Patterson. On paper, that should have left room for the Irishman to push centrally.
Instead, Moyes handed the right-back role to new signing Merlin Röhl, a versatile presence already likened in style to Leon Goretzka. That decision cut deeper than a simple tactical tweak. It looked like a message.
Premier League clubs noticed.
With the transfer deadline looming on Tuesday at 11pm, interest has spiked. Sunderland, Leeds and former club Crystal Palace are all reported to be circling, with sides in Italy and France also monitoring the situation. O’Brien has options. Real ones.
Everton, though, would be left short at right-back if he goes.
The Coleman void
Coleman’s shadow still hangs over Goodison Park. Replacing the player is one thing. Replacing the presence is something else entirely.
Signed from Sligo Rovers for under £100,000, he went on to make 434 appearances in all competitions and is now frequently mentioned as one of the most astute signings in Premier League history. His influence as captain, standard-setter and link to the club’s Irish heritage is hard to quantify.
He left Merseyside last year and has since been training with his old GAA club Killybegs while he weighs up his next move. Everton offered him a coaching role. He turned it down, seemingly determined to keep playing after winning his most recent Ireland cap as recently as June, at 37.
Some inside and outside the club imagined a neat handover: Coleman mentoring O’Brien, one Irish right-back guiding another. That storyline is fading fast. O’Brien’s desire to move looks personal, professional and firm.
If he goes, Everton’s Irish connection shrinks to one man: Mark Travers.
The goalkeeper, second choice behind Jordan Pickford, did not make a single Premier League or FA Cup appearance last season. His only outings came in the Carabao Cup, twice, and he is set for another year watching on. For a club that once leaned heavily on the likes of Kevin Kilbane, Lee Carsley, Kevin Sheedy, James McCarthy and Coleman, each with over 100 appearances, the contrast is stark.
A late scramble and a big decision
The timing could hardly be trickier. With the deadline closing in and squads beginning to settle, Everton are short on room to manoeuvre.
CEO Angus Kinnear has already admitted that right-back has been a long-standing issue.
“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 hinted at a future in which O’Brien could finally focus on centre-back, battling Tarkowski and Branthwaite for a place in his natural role.
Instead, they may have accelerated his exit. If Everton are intent on signing a specialist right-back, O’Brien has to decide whether he wants to spend his peak years as cover in two positions, or as a first-choice centre-half somewhere else.
The club face their own dilemma: replace Coleman’s influence, cover the right flank, and possibly lose a £17m defender who never truly got to play where he is strongest.
The clock is ticking. For Everton, and for Jake O’Brien, the next few days will shape far more than just the depth chart at right-back.
