Everton are understood to be keeping their options open when it comes to the search for a new right back. The position has been a troublesome one for the Blues for several years amid the injuries suffered by Seamus Coleman and Nathan Patterson.

That has not changed this season with the club captain Coleman currently out with a hamstring issue and his team-mate having gone under the knife for a hernia problem.

That area is, therefore, one of Everton’s transfer priorities, and the club is open to doing business if a suitable opportunity comes along. That, so far, has not been the case and recent reports linking Ben White and Emil Holm with a move to Hill Dickinson Stadium are understood to simply be speculation.

OPINION