Overview
- Reports on June 18–19 linked Everton with Strasbourg defender Guela Doue as a primary summer target for the right-back role.
- The club urgently needs a specialist right-back after Seamus Coleman confirmed he will not continue and Nathan Patterson is expected to leave, with Jake O’Brien having covered the position last season.
- Guela Doue is a 23-year-old Ivory Coast international who can play right-back, wing or centre-back, has a contract at Strasbourg until 2029, and raised his profile by starting at the World Cup.
- Strasbourg value Doue at about £40 million and Everton’s limited transfer capacity under the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules makes that fee unlikely to be met.
- Everton are preparing lower-cost alternatives such as Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Djed Spence, Ben White, Raoul Bellanova, Emil Holm and Brooke Norton-Cuffy while ownership links between Strasbourg and Chelsea could change transfer competition.