Merlin Röhl: Everton’s Midfield Enforcer and Photographer
Merlin Röhl spends his days breaking up attacks and threading passes through Premier League midfields. In the evenings, he goes looking for light.
The 24-year-old Everton midfielder has released a photo collection, Behind the Lens: Life with Everton, a personal album that pulls supporters into his world far beyond the 90 minutes on a Saturday. No glossy campaign, no staged club shoot – just a player quietly documenting the people, places and small dramas that have shaped his new life on Merseyside.
Holding on to what football usually lets go
Asked what draws him to photography, Röhl doesn’t talk about technique or equipment. He talks about time.
“I think memories. I can hold on to something that normally just goes away,” he says.
For a footballer whose career is built on fleeting moments – a tackle, a pass, a roar from the Gwladys Street – the camera has become a way of slowing everything down.
Sometimes, he admits, it’s simply about joy.
“Sometimes it's just me doing something that I enjoy. I just enjoy playing football so much and I can't do it the whole day, so I'm trying next to the football to search for some things where I can feel a little bit like when I am playing football.”
That line tells you plenty. The same impulse that drives him to dominate a midfield pushes him out the door with a camera over his shoulder.
From Freiburg to Finch Farm, lens in hand
Röhl’s journey to Everton has been brisk. The 6ft 3in Germany under-21 international arrived at Goodison Park on a season-long loan from Freiburg in 2025, then did enough to earn a permanent move in the summer. Before that, he had joined Freiburg from Ingolstadt in 2022 and clocked up 60 appearances, shuttling across midfield roles and even filling in at right-back.
Now his eye is trained on a different kind of positioning.
His camera follows life at Finch Farm, Everton’s training base: dressing rooms before and after sessions, recovery work, quiet corners where players stretch, joke, or simply sit with their thoughts. It’s the side of elite football that rarely reaches the public – the slog behind the spectacle.
The album also tracks the build-up to matchdays, home and away. Team journeys, hotel corridors, the lull before the noise. It’s the rhythm of a season, frame by frame.
A city seen on foot
Away from the pitch, Röhl has turned his lens on Liverpool itself. Parks, beaches, streets and tucked-away spaces across Merseyside all appear in his work, charting how a new city has started to feel like home.
He talks about photography as a release, something that helps him reset after the grind of training.
“I had a tough training session in the morning and did all the work that I can do on the pitch and sometimes for me it's to relax, to just go out, walk a little bit and have some photos,” he says.
No sports psychologist, no elaborate routine. Just a walk, a camera, and a way to switch off.
Dressing-room trust, one frame at a time
Not every teammate was immediately thrilled to find a camera pointed in their direction. In a dressing room where privacy is fiercely protected, that first click can feel like a step too far.
“I think in the beginning it was a little bit kind of a step we needed to overcome, but now everybody is just like completely fine,” Röhl explains. “I have a good relationship with all my teammates and that helps a lot to get some nice pictures.”
That trust matters. Players who might tense up for an official club photographer loosen around someone who shares their daily grind. The result is a more honest record: unguarded smiles, tired faces after double sessions, the small rituals that bind a squad.
Part of the proceeds from Behind the Lens: Life with Everton will support the Everton Multi Academy Trust, which is backed by Everton Football Club and Everton in the Community. The project is personal, but it feeds back into the club’s wider footprint.
One subject still missing
There is, however, one notable absentee from Röhl’s growing archive: his manager, David Moyes.
“Maybe I will ask in the future,” he says. “But maybe I'm a little bit scared to affect my starting position.”
It’s a half-joke, half-truth every professional will recognise. For now, Moyes remains off-camera, watching from the touchline while his midfielder quietly builds a second craft.
Röhl already reads the game with a wide-angle view. If his eye behind the lens sharpens as quickly as his play has in blue, Everton may have found not just a midfield anchor, but an unexpected chronicler of this chapter in the club’s history.
