“He is, without a shadow of a doubt, up there with the most consistent full-backs in the league over the last two years.”
It wasn’t Branislav Ivanovic, Gael Clichy or Leighton Baines that Phil Neville was speaking about.
Rather a Donegal man who made the move across the water for just €80,000 by the name of Seamus Coleman.
We had the great honour of speaking to Phil Neville, a man who knows a thing or two about full-backs, today and he couldn’t have been more full of praise about the Irish international.
“He is a fantastic full-back,” Neville said. “You’d have to put him right up there with Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta in terms of talent. That’s how good he is.
“I think it’s a testament to Seamus’ abilities that he’s been singled out, at times, by the opposition as the Everton player to stop if they are to stop Martinez’s side attacking.
“He truly is a brilliant player – a great trainer with the perfect attitude and somebody, when he first came to Everton, that I took a tremendous interest in because of his winner’s mentality.
“His career is on a massive up right now and if he keeps improving, the world is his oyster.”
When asked if he believed a move to a bigger club would be necessary for Coleman to fully reach his potential, Neville insisted that Goodison Park was the perfect place for the Irish right-back.
“I think Everton are a big-name club and that they should be challenging for European places year-in, year-out.
“What more could a player ask for than to be challenging for the top four, playing European football and getting selected by your country. That’s where Seamus has found himself over the last two seasons and I don’t think people should underestimate the size of Everton Football Club.”
“Obviously top four teams like Arsenal and Manchester United will be looking at him because he’s been the stand-out young right-back but, if I were Seamus Coleman, I would stay at Everton and continue to enjoy my football while developing.”
Everton’s Irish connection has never been as strong as it is in 2015 with Coleman, James McCarthy, Darron Gibson and Aiden McGeady all first-team regulars under Roberto Martinez.
The Spaniard has come under criticism recently, though, by Ireland assistant manager and Neville’s former captain Roy Keane for overworking the Irish contingent ahead of big international games. Neville sees both sides of the argument.
“It’s obviously a difficult situation to try to balance because Roy’s only concern is having his best players firing on all cylinders for international matches and it’s no different from the problems that Roy Hodgson and my brother Gary are having with the England set-up.
“Players do drop out and sometimes it can be due to the influence of their club managers.
“When you’re an international manager or assistant manager, you do need the support of club bosses and sometimes they don’t get that.
“I think it will come to the stage where Roy or Martin O’Neil will have to sit down with the Everton manager and say ‘we do need Gibson, McCarthy and Coleman’ because, I believe, that Ireland are a better team with those three in the side.
“There’s a conflict with every nation, though, and it is understandable at times. It’s just one of those things.”
Neville speaks fondly and excitedly about Everton and expressed concern at the performances put in by the Toffees this season that has left them in thirteenth place in the Premier League table and out of all cup competitions.
“Defensively, Everton have not been at the level that they’re used to and I think the Europa League played its part in that.
“I think that Everton were the one Premier League club who took that competition seriously this season and played their strongest team on both Thursday and Sunday.
“In terms of performance, if I had to point to one area that has left Everton so low in the table it would be the amount of individual errors.
“I think the players have been guilty of 16 individual errors this season that have led to them conceding a goal and it’s not just from defenders.
“Roberto Martinez knows that and it’s something he’ll work really hard for next season and Everton can bounce back because they’re far too good a side to be where they are right now.”
Phil Neville was speaking to SportsJOE to promote Predikta, a new football prediction website which allows friends to interact with one another in a fun environment while sharing their picks for upcoming games.
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