James Garner is happy to be considered as an option at right-back for Everton next season.
The 22-year-old excelled in the final weeks of the season, both in his traditional position of central midfield and when asked to fill in at the back as cover for the injured Seamus Coleman and Nathan Patterson.
Building resilience into his squad is a key task for Sean Dyche this summer after Everton ended the campaign without a fit and recognised first team full-back. But Garner’s performance there in the survival-saving win over Bournemouth, and his willingness to accept his versatility as a strength, could free Dyche up to focus on signing a specialist left back to compete with Vitalii Mykolenko - rather than finding a player who can cover both sides of the defence.
Club captain Coleman, who is out of contract at the end of this month but who has been offered a new deal, and Patterson provide solid options on the right of defence. Both have suffered with injuries over the past 18 months, however, and their troubles coincided at the end of the season when Patterson was withdrawn during the first half of the match at Wolves with a hamstring injury. Coleman was already absent having suffered a knee injury that led to him being stretchered off at Leicester City weeks earlier.
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This meant that for the second half at Molineux and the game with Bournemouth, Dyche had to experiment. Up stepped Garner, who was widely praised for his display at right back in the final fixture of the campaign, a game Everton had to win in order to avoid relegation.
With Everton having struggled to cover an injury to first choice left back Mykolenko at the same time, full-back is a key area of focus this summer. The priority is at left-back, where a player who can challenge Mykolenko for the first team spot is required. Finding someone who can provide additional cover on the right, should the injury setbacks of Coleman and Patterson continue for a third season, would also be useful. Garner, though, may have solved that problem - and appears happy to be considered for that role.
He told the official Everton website: “Me playing right-back toward the end of the season was obviously something different. I feel like I know the game well and feel like I can fit into any position the manager would like me to play. It was just like another game for me, really.
“Of course, it was different and difficult. However, I feel like I can play there and do a job for the team. The people who get the most touches on the pitch are most often full-backs. In the modern game now, the full-backs create a lot and are the key people you tend to look at in a starting XI. It’s a position that has definitely evolved a lot. If I am chosen to play there, I will be more than happy. I feel comfortable switching positions. From defence to midfield, midfield to right-back. I feel ready and more than capable of doing it.”
The hope remains that Garner being deployed in defence is not necessary. After receiving his first Premier League start against Fulham, the England Under-21 international started seven of the final eight games, mainly in his preferred place of central midfield, putting in several accomplished performances.
And Dyche has already spoken to Garner about building on that run of displays - a conversation clearly geared towards the player making the most of his talent from the middle of the pitch. Garner said: “He [Dyche] gave me a chance, which is ultimately the most important thing. It was up to me to take it, which I feel like I did. He gave me that chance and confidence to play - to show what I can do with belief.
“His style of play is very different, so he just wants me to adapt, get forward and pass forward. He also really wants me to get goals and assists. That’s what he’s telling me to do each week and in the games that I play. He really wants me to shoot, cross and assist - that’s what he’s trying to help me with.”
