Seamus Coleman withdrawn from Ireland squad due to injury
Everton captain Seamus Coleman has been withdrawn from the Republic of Ireland squad due to an injury.
The Ireland Football Association announced, via their official Twitter account, that the 32-year-old is injured and will be replaced by Cyrus Christie.
This may come as a huge blow for the Toffees if Coleman’s injury is serious as they did not sign a right-back this summer.
Shambolic
It was glaringly obvious that Everton needed to sign a right-back this summer, so the pursuit of Denzel Dumfries made a whole lot of sense.
However, the Toffees ended up losing that race for him and never really got close to signing an alternative.
Missing a player of Coleman’s calibre is huge and he was recently labelled “excellent” by World Soccer Talk journalist Matt Jones.
Jonjoe Kenny is the other like for like replacement, but there have been plenty of doubts about him in the past and it’s unsure whether Rafa Benitez would fancy playing him there.
Last season, Carlo Ancelotti deployed Ben Godfrey at right-back on numerous occasions and should Coleman not be fit enough in time, we expect to see the England international starting at right-back.
Alternatively, clubs can still sign free agents, so if Everton fancy a move for someone like Serge Aurier, then it could be possible to see him in the playing eleven next weekend.
Any decision about this has to be made quickly, but this has not left the decision-makers looking good and unfortunately, the manager will have to pay the price if he’s unable to work with the limited tools he’s got at his disposal.
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