Could Rico Lewis be the right-back Everton need?

He has been on the lips of some, in the background now, for a few weeks.

So when Rico Lewis emerged on Wednesday as a player Everton are considering in their hunt to finally solve their long-standing right-back issue, it was not particularly surprising.

I won’t pretend to have in-depth information, but there had certainly been murmurings. How much weight one chooses to place on those rumours is up to them, of course, and as ever in what has become known as ‘silly season’, it’s best to take everything with a large dose of salt.

Everton are in a tough position when it comes to finally signing a right-back — albeit, it is an issue all of their own making.

In my opinion, the player needs to be ready to slot straight in. No bedding in time, at least when it comes to being ready to play from the off. Of course, there’s always off-the-pitch settling to take into account, especially if players are coming from abroad.

While that shouldn’t mean Everton throw too much money at a right-back, I don’t think they’re in a position to penny pinch, either.

There has been plenty of talk over Guela Doué and Djed Spence — two right-backs who the club certainly hold an interest in. Both have seemingly been given high price tags by their clubs.

As I have written previously, I think Everton will likely have to take a gamble. At 23, Doué, if he is their first-choice target, could be worth the outlay. But, he is also being linked with Inter, and may not be persuaded to join Everton.

Spence would likely be an easier sell for the player, and he offers a versatile option with plenty of top-level experience, as he has proven with England at the World Cup. But, Tottenham are reportedly asking for upwards of £35M for him, and that is simply too much, especially considering his wages will not be small.

But in Lewis, were Everton to be able to strike a deal, could they stumble upon the ideal solution?

It is easy to forget that Lewis is still so young. He’s just 21, and already has 116 senior games under his belt for Manchester City.

Lewis has scored 7 goals and provided 12 assists, and is capable of playing at right-back, left-back and in midfield. He is an England international.

Yes, he found himself out of the first team at Man City last season, but there is absolutely no shame in that. He is a top-quality talent and not only has vast potential, but has proved it already.

The key for any player coming in at right-back will be that they must play, if all is equal with their fitness and form. There cannot be any excuse for David Moyes not to play this new addition, for him to stick with the tried, tested and ultimately failing, Jake O’Brien at right-back experiment.

Everton clearly want a right-back, but the fanbase need that assurance of a player actually coming in.

Lewis, in my view, is an ideal fit. A player who Moyes would be happy to turn to, yet also one who has enough strings to his bow to be adaptable for other managers. You don’t play for Pep Guardiola without being a top-class operator.

The one concern, especially for Moyes, would be his height — he is only 5ft-7in. But frankly, Moyes should not be leading the decision-making here, and the fact is, Lewis is a far better full-back than any of Everton’s current options.

There is a rumoured fee of £30M, and yes, while that is on the high side, he is so young, and comes with an English premium. This is not a past-it player signing for a last big pay day, and Everton aren’t in a position not to spend a sizeable fee on a right-back this summer.

Man City, according to the rumours, would not be closed off to a sale, so there could be something there.

Whether anything comes of it, we’ll have to wait and see, but if a deal could be struck (perhaps one that is heavily incentivised), then it would seem to be a no-brainer.

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Ajay Gopal 2 Posted 16/07/2026 at 10:48:34

Hmm, if Everton spend 30 million him, and Moyes does not play him (see Tyler Dibling), then that is money that we can ill afford to squander. Rico Lewis on a more reasonable 15-20 million + Ben White on loan may be sensible.

Jimmy Salt 3 Posted 16/07/2026 at 11:19:07

I wasn't convinced by Spence at first, but he has steadily improved during his World Cup appearances.

Due to his versatility at both right- and left-back, I think if we could get a right-back and Spence, we would have full-back positions covered.

Jimmy Salt 4 Posted 16/07/2026 at 11:20:26

How long is the naughty step period, Michael? Even my wife doesn't hold a grudge for this long.

Michael Kenrick Editorial Team 5 Posted 16/07/2026 at 12:00:00

Sorry about that, Jimmy.

You seem to have gotten stuck there somehow. But fear not: I have unstuck you.

Paul Hewitt 6 Posted 16/07/2026 at 12:00:17

Absolutely he's the right player. Man City are willing to sell him. It should be the easiest transfer of the summer for us, pay the £30M.

Probably just wait for Spence to turn us down.

Jimmy Salt 7 Posted 16/07/2026 at 12:01:25

Cheers

Michael Kenrick Editorial Team 8 Posted 16/07/2026 at 12:07:43

Jimmy,

You might need to log out and log back in again for things to reset.

Sorry about that.

Raymond Fox 9 Posted 16/07/2026 at 13:06:56

We have six weeks before the window closes so in theory we have plenty of time. The agents and players must be a nightmare to deal with to get definite yes or no with price, wages, length of contract, agents cut etc.

Is Patterson that bad, he's a mystery to me, he has seemed OK when he's been picked or maybe I'm a bad judge. Only five teams conceded less goals than us last season and only five scored less, so you can put that down to Moyes or the players or a bit of both.

Andrew Ellams 11 Posted 16/07/2026 at 13:17:26

Is he actually a RB? I've seen him play there, LB and in the centre of midfield.

Andrew Merrick 12 Posted 16/07/2026 at 13:41:33

There is speculation that several clubs are interested in Rico. The lad himself has today stated that there is a plan in place for him at Man City and he has full faith this will come to fruition.

So this may be a non-starter...

John Williams 13 Posted 16/07/2026 at 13:53:26

I have always thought he was more of a midfield player than a fullback.

Pep even changed Nunes into a full-back (not his natural position) and kept Rico out of first-team action.

Annika Herbert 14 Posted 16/07/2026 at 13:55:34

I would be happy to see Lewis brought in. A young player with plenty of time to improve.

But, are we still keeping our powder dry, as some posters have suggested, or are we actually going to bring players in to improve? Not only the team, but the squad???

If we keep our powder dry for very much longer... we will, once again, be scratching around the bargain basement market.

Christy Ring 15 Posted 16/07/2026 at 14:08:09

Any time he played for City, he looked promising.

My worry is, Pep played Nunes at right-back, and he's a midfielder?

Dave Abrahams 16 Posted 16/07/2026 at 15:25:31

I think Rico Lewis would be a very good versatile player for the Blues.

But as Andrew says @12, Rico feels he still has place at Man City and is confident he will get future chances there.

John Williams 17 Posted 16/07/2026 at 15:45:51

If the Blues could bring in another good midfielder, I wouldn't mind Garner playing at full-back.

If they had to push him back into midfield for odd games, O'Brien could be okay there, but not on a regular basis.

Paul Hewitt 18 Posted 16/07/2026 at 16:20:22

No, no, no.

O'Brien should never play right-back ever again. Just stop it.

Dale Self 19 Posted 16/07/2026 at 16:35:06

Andrew @11, good eye. He was in the hole protecting the back line for a few matches when Rodri was unavailable.

Discipline was not his strength, went forward a bit much and left positional responsibilities. He is young though and perhaps the Pep revamp was not quite worked out.

Lewis also rejected a loan move to us when he obviously was not going to play much that season. I'm not sure he is that into a move here.

Eric Myles 20 Posted 16/07/2026 at 16:55:09

Maybe our lack of signings is due to our targets still being involved in World Cup games? 🤣

Paul Kossoff 21 Posted 16/07/2026 at 18:28:15

I've already commented on this, please God, must be a better option than this carrot.

I didn't even know he was a right back. A make up the numbers, a drift through a game and does absolutely nothing.

Please don't encourage Moyes with this crap. What next, pineapple Phillips?

Paul Kossoff 22 Posted 16/07/2026 at 18:32:53

Jimmy. "wasn't convinced by Spence at first, but he has steadily improved during his World Cup appearances" He was one of the reasons we were beaten!

Mark Messi, stop the crosses, not fucking rocket science, is it? Ricko Lewis, anyone wanting that nonentity, give themselves a very large wobble.

David West 23 Posted 16/07/2026 at 18:39:12

Why not Spence and Lewis?

If you signed 2 of them, you are covering a lot of bases, upgrading Mykolenko, filling the holy grail right-back position and having cover at both full-back positions.

Lewis could play right-midfield, right-wing too, especially in a Moyes system where wide men need to be up and down and help defending too.

People saying £30M for these level of players is too much, are just not realistic.

A full-back ready to slot in at a good level won't be less than £25M; if it's £15M - £20M, it would either be on potential (so maybe not ready) or never going to be top quality or on the way down in their career.

Look at Anderson to Man City -- Nottm Forest paid a chunk at $35M, but look at the player he is now and the fee Man City stumped up. Spence & Lewis could both go on to be top players.

£35M is now the new £10M bargain of 10 years ago!

Paul Kossoff 24 Posted 16/07/2026 at 18:47:47

Anderson is a bum.Spence is a bum. Lewis is a...

Read above.

Paul Kossoff 25 Posted 16/07/2026 at 19:00:05

Everton have stepped up their long-standing interest in Genoa's Brooke Norton-Cuffy, 22, with fresh talks having taken place over a potential move for the England Under-21 defender. (TeamTalk)

Annika Herbert 26 Posted 16/07/2026 at 20:36:48

Eric @ 20, so which players from the Spanish and Argentinian teams are we currently pursuing?

Wasn't the Anderson deal done during the World Cup?

Or maybe we are lining up a few of the French players and just waiting for that pesky third place play off game to get finished?

Minik Hansen 27 Posted 16/07/2026 at 21:29:59

Rico Lewis reminds me of when we got Lucas Digne from FC Barcelona.

Young, experienced, came from a big club. I hope we get him.

Jack Convery 28 Posted 17/07/2026 at 07:01:16

Career History RB 85 games, 7 goals, 8 assists. DM 24 games, 3 goals, 4 assists and at LB, 16 games, 2 goals. He has also played CM / RM / CB / AM - 17 games 2 assists.

Based on these figures he would definitely improve our squad and his flexibility could prove invaluable if we continue with a smallish squad next season. He would play in the first team and not be a bench warmer like Aznou and Dibling are likely to be.

This would give us yet another Lee Carsley coached under 21 player. Guess who is out of contract June 2027 ? That's right, it's Lee Carley. Is it written in the stars ? We already have Dibling, Hackney, Garner, Branthwaite, and George. Also we are linked with Delap and Horton - Cuffy. Both of whom played for Carsley. Is this the grand design. A group of youngsters to be Managed by Carsley from July 2027, when the Moyesiah has left.. I expect Harrison Armstrong to be the next Blue to play for the U21s, under Carsley too.

Just think, Pickford, Lewis, O'Brien, Branthwaite, Aznou, Garner, Hackney, Dewsbury -Hall, George, Dibling and erm Delap. Subs, Harrison Armstrong, Rohl, Mykolenko, Tarks, Murphy plus 3 others.

I see light at the end of a dark, dark tunnel or is it my new anti depressants ?

Alan McGuffog 29 Posted 17/07/2026 at 08:03:00

Well we'll just have to see if he's still available on 1st September. Can't rush in to signing players like some of these other teams

Eric Myles 30 Posted 17/07/2026 at 08:10:30

Annika, I think that Messi fella from Agentina could do a job for a couple more seasons if Moyes teaches him to track back and defend a bit. 😂

From France we've been mentioned in despatches regarding Doué, and from what I read that Mbappe chap could be a useful addition from the subs bench in the last 10 minutes of a game. For the othe 80 minutes he could teach Dibbling French for his future move to PSG. 😂

Andrew Ellams 31 Posted 17/07/2026 at 08:54:01

Looks like Inter Milan have got their eye on Djed Spence now. That's us out of that race.

Mark Steers 32 Posted 17/07/2026 at 10:52:16

Its funny how you are all banging the drum for a right back. The last 4 seasons we've had no right back and when I made noises you all had a pop at me. Coleman last 4 seasons has played 2 games last season never lasted 90 mins. Season before 3 games never lasted 90 mins. Season before 5 games never lasted 90 mins. Season before 7 games. Its funny how we have a problem at Right back is it not ha ha. This guy has caused this problem and should of been sent packing long ago, But as someone told me he's good for Everton in the community Dont make me laugh.