During his press conference before Burnley's trip to Hill Dickinson Stadium on Tuesday night, Everton manager David Moyes noted two injuries for the Blues: midfielder Charly Alcaraz and fullback Seamus Coleman.
The Alcaraz injury was known -- he'd missed Saturday's win over Newcastle as well -- but news of another knock for Coleman, the club captain, was not.
Moyes noted that the fullback picked up a knock on Friday prior to the Newcastle match, and the Ireland international was not on the bench at St. James' Park either. The expectation is that the injury won't keep the defender out for too long.
But it isn't as though Coleman was a regular part of the starting XI, with his last appearance coming via a 10-minute cameo in Everton's late November win away at Manchester United. He played in two matches for his country earlier in that month, finishing a full 90 in a 2-0 win over Portugal.
For the Toffees, Coleman's last start came against Wolves in the Carabao Cup, a 2-0 loss, which saw him play left back opposite Jake O'Brien over 78 minutes.
All of this is to say that this isn't likely the way the player saw things going when he opted to sign a new deal with Everton over the summer. But after making 23 appearances in the 2022/23 season, Coleman has managed just 20 total in the three seasons since, for a mere 891 minutes in the Premier League.
Frankly, this is a shame.
Coleman is undoubtedly one of the shining stars of Everton's existence, especially in the Premier League era, as he and Leighton Baines constituted one of the top-flight's best fullback pairings during the height of their run together.
Baines called it a career back in 2020 after two seasons as fraught as the last few for Coleman. He's since joined the ranks of Everton's coaching staff. He's only a few years older than his former fullback partner, but his last kick in the Premier League came when he was still just 34, while Coleman will turn 38 in October.
Seamus Coleman deserved a chance to have a better sendoff season than he's getting right now. It isn't his fault or the club's that this is happening; sometimes the body just quits before a player wants to.
With hindsight, it's easy to say that maybe he should have hung up his boots earlier, although nobody can blame him for wanting to be part of the final season at Goodison Park, although the club would have included him either way.
It's just sad to see a great player in the history of his great club fade away like this. Here's hoping he gets one last chance to go out on his terms before the year is over.