Since his return, David Moyes has done a brilliant job at Everton.
He has stabilised the side, restored a clear structure, and given the club its identity back.
The Toffees now look organised, competitive, and difficult to play against with a much clearer understanding of what they are trying to do on and off the ball.
But if Everton want to push on rather than simply remain stable, the next steps are obvious.
Looking at Moyes’ past spells gives us clear clues as to where those improvements will come from: the full-back positions.
Across both his Everton and West Ham United tenures, the same positional profiles appear again and again.
This is no coincidence; it is a pattern.
This Everton recruitment analysis aims to use those clues in David Moyes history to assess what Everton need to do next in the transfer market.
The Past Leaves Clues In David Moyes Recruitment
David Moyes knows exactly what he wants his teams to look like.
He does not radically change his ideas when he moves clubs.
Instead, he looks to replicate the same structures, relationships, and profiles with the right players.
This is especially clear when you look at how his teams are built through winger and full-back dynamics.
Moyes places enormous importance on those relationships.
He wants balance, repeatability, and clarity of roles.
When he finds something that works, he trusts it, and he looks to reproduce it wherever he goes.
Understanding this is key to projecting Everton’s next recruitment steps.
Why Full-Backs Matter In A David Moyes System
In a Moyes system, full-backs are central to attacking output.
They are not there to dominate possession or drift into midfield.
They are there to deliver quality into the box and create space for the wingers to come inside.
Moyes likes specific profiles at right-back and left-back because those roles are key to chance creation.
The full-back provides width, overlaps or underlaps depending on the winger’s movement, and consistently delivers crosses into dangerous areas.
In return, the winger is given more space to operate inside.
It is a symbiotic relationship.
Moyes places huge value on developing these partnerships, and they are fundamental to how his teams attack.
The Right-Back Profile David Moyes Trusts
At Everton, first time around, Séamus Coleman set the standard.
This sequence shows prime Séamus Coleman in a nutshell.
The overlap creates space for Romelu Lukaku to come inside, a quick reverse pass follows, and Coleman delivers a delicate ball back into the box.
Simple a
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