With the need for a starting right back standing as Everton's top need this summer, it's no surprise to hear those links come fast and furious.
The biggest one so far is also maybe the laziest, West Ham's Aaron Wan-Bissaka, as the Hammers are relegated and need to sell players to stay afloat in the Championship. As discussed, AWB wouldn't be the worst option, but he cannot be the nailed-on starter.
A more recent rumor has Everton connected to Atalanta's Raoul Bellanova, an Italian international who has also spent time with Torino, Inter, Cagliari, and Milan in Serie A in Italy, along with spells with Bordeaux in France's Ligue 1 and Pescara in Serie B.
For a relatively young player (he just turned 26 in mid-May), that's a lot of stops, especially after 13 years in Milan's youth academy and never playing a match with their senior side. The brief stop in France aside (he only played a single match for the side before an icing out and loan back to Italy), he's felt more comfortable in his home country.
He's described as an athletic and pacey player with the fitness to see out matches, as evidenced by his finishing the 90 in 26 of his 27 starts during the 2024/25 campaign.
These are elements that Everton severely lacks in the side, especially the pace, and he's shown an adept ability to get forward, too.
The problem, it seems, is whether or not Bellanova is actually a right back. He's no doubt a right-sided player, but he's often been used as a wing-back or midfielder, even as a defensive midfielder. But his match logs on FBRef suggest a player who isn't a natural right back.
In considering him in a modern setup, this isn't a bad thing. But in an Everton side coached by David Moyes, it feels a little like Everton would be trying to force another square peg into a round hole.
Even the counting stats (he had just 9 tackles won and 10 interceptions last season) point to a player who isn't terribly defensive-minded, something that might remind some of an older Adam Aznou, although even Aznou's lone season at Villadoid produced twice as many tackles won.
The concept of finding a more modern player to address the position is a nice one, but it doesn't feel like a direction that Everton will go so long as Moyes is here. And with other clubs, such as Fulham Forest, and Newcastle also eyeing the player, it will be interesting to see just how deep the interest is from the Toffees.
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