Strasbourg’s Ivory Coast international Guela Doue is one of the latest names linked with Everton as they look to sign a new right-back
14:47, 21 Jun 2026Updated 15:12, 21 Jun 2026
Ivory Coast World Cup star Guela Doue has already tasted victory at Hill Dickinson Stadium with David Moyes watching on so should Everton splash the cash to finally resolve their long-standing right-back issue?
A report by Paul Joyce in the Times published on Thursday stated: “One of Everton’s priorities is to recruit a right back. Strasbourg’s Guela Doue, 23 – the brother of Paris Saint-Germain and France forward Desire Doue – is likely to prove out of reach at £40million.
“Atalanta’s Raoul Bellanova, 26, Tottenham Hotspur’s Djed Spence, 25, and West Ham United’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 28, are possible alternatives to fix a problem position.”
The Doues are just one of three sets of siblings at the 2026 World Cup representing different countries, along with John Souttar (Scotland) and Harry Souttar (Australia) plus Nico Williams (Spain) and Inaki Williams (Ghana). Meanwhile, Brian Brobbey who followed up his goal for Sunderland in their 3-1 win over Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium last month with his brace in former Blues boss Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands’ 5-1 romp against Graham Potter’s Sweden, is the half-brother of Ghana’s Derrick Luckassen.
Doue, who comes from Angers, around 190 miles south west of Paris, is also one of 76 of the 99 French-born players in the tournament not representing France with 53 of the French-born total hailing from the capital city or its suburbs alone. Geographical quirks apart, while the Blues might be balking at Doue’s current price tag, would it be worth them pushing the boat out to try and do a deal?
Back on January 30, when speaking in his pre-match press conference to preview the game at Brighton & Hove Albion the next day – a fixture in which he selected a back four made up entirely of centre-halves – Blues boss Moyes admitted: “We’ve been actively looking for a right-back for over a year.” Since then, Nathan Patterson came close to joining Genoa on deadline day of the winter window while captain Seamus Coleman has now called time on his playing career at Everton after over 17 years with the club.
The ECHO understands that Doue has been on Everton’s recruitment radar for several months and was one of the potential options considering during January when The Friedkin Group did not press the button any major moves with only Chelsea youngster Tyrique George coming in on loan in the final hours after Jack Grealish had suffered a serious stress fracture injury which ended his season.
Coached at Strasbourg by a couple of south Londoners last season – Wandsworth’s Liam Rosenior before he joined sister club Chelsea and then Beckenham’s Gary O’Neil – Doue did get the opportunity to showcase his talents to Moyes on March 31. Ivory Coast faced the Glaswegian gaffer’s native Scotland in the first international at Hill Dickinson Stadium as a brace of football knights from north of the border, Sir Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson also watched on among a 33,034 attendance.
With former Arsenal man Nicolas Pepe having netted the only goal of the game on 12 minutes, Doue got just under half an hour of action as he came off the bench to replace Gil Vicente’s Ghislain Konan. There is also a photograph of him getting a block in on Andy Robertson, who claimed in his Liverpool goodbye letter to the ECHO that getting booed while playing for Scotland at Everton’s new home by the Mersey waterfront was “honestly one of the highlights of my year.”
Andy Robertson takes a shot as Guela Doue slides in to block during the international friendly between Scotland and Ivory Coast at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on March 31, 2026(Image: Kate McShane/Getty Images)
Doue, who has been capped 22 times for his father’s country of birth, started the 1-0 victory over Ecuador in Ivory Coast’s World Cup opener but having been booked on 40 minutes, he had been withdrawn for Atalanta’s Odilon Kossounou shortly before Manchester United’s Amad Diallo’s last-minute winner. Then, having replaced Galatasaray’s Wilfried Slingo on 82 minutes against Germany, he was on the pitch as another substitute Deniz Undav netted to inflict a 2-1 defeat.
Minnows Curacao, who picked up their first World Cup point with a goalless draw against Ecuador in the early hours of Sunday after being thrashed 7-1 by Germany in their tournament debut, lie in wait next for Ivory Coast’s final Group E encounter in Philadelphia – another stadium designed by Dan Meis – at 9pm UK time on Thursday. Doue will be hoping to be restored to the starting line-up as the Ivorians, who failed to progress from their group on their previous appearances in 2006, 2010 and 2014, look to reach the knockout stages for the first time.
But just what sort of player is he to command such a substantial potential price tag? Comparisonator’s calculates Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui as being the Premier League player closest in style to Doue with a 90% match. He is followed by James Justin of Leeds United (89%) and Ola Aina of Nottingham Forest (75%) with Fulham’s Kenny Tete, who Everton tried to sign on a Bosman-style free transfer last summer before he changed his mind and penned a new deal at Craven Cottage, next up on 63%.
Comparisonator also deems Doue to be mostly a ‘defensive full-back,’ scoring 9.3 out of 10 in this category, but this could be misleading as a statistical examination to come will suggest. He scores 7.9 as a two-ways full-back; 7 as a wing-back and 5 as a playmaker back.
We can also correlate Doue’s figures with Strasbourg from Ligue 1 last season against those playing in his position in the Premier League by using Comparisonator’s virtual transfer tool. Only Daniel Munoz of Crystal Palace (10.642km) and Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool (10.595km) covered more ground at right-back than Doue’s 10.455km, which edged out Everton’s James Garner (10.307km) when he played in that position.
Doue is also rapid given that his average of covering 109m per minute could only be topped by Timothy Castagne of Fulham (116m) and Munoz (111m). As previously stated, the ‘defensive’ tag does not tell the full story as Doue provided seven assists last season, six of which came in Ligue 1 and this gives him an average of 0.24 assists per 90 minutes, way ahead of joint Premier League leaders in his position, Jurrien Timber of Arsenal and Matheus Nunes of Manchester City, both on 0.15.
Guela Doue’s assists figures with Strasbourg in Ligue 1 last season compared to Premier League right-backs
The 23-year-old would also be ranked third for playing in scoring attacks with a score of 0.71, behind Nunes on 0.82 and Szoboszlai on 0.81. He’d come in fifth for shots on target (0.29) behind leader Szoboszlai on 0.63 and seventh for successful dribbles (1.06), a section topped by aforementioned compatriot Diallo (2.07) who is essential a wide attacking player.
Doue (3) makes more clearances per 90 minutes than Premier League leader Aina (2.61) and only the trio of West Ham United’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka (5.88); Aina (5.83) and Sunderland’s Nordi Mukiele (5.29) can top his average of 4.76 interceptions.
Although he’d come in a respectable 10th for successful passes (33.82), a section topped by Liverpool’s Curtis Jones on 56.83, as a right-back who can get forward, it’s telling to see only Pedro Porro of Tottenham Hotspur (1.67) betters his 1.41 successful crosses per 90 minutes.
As already suggested, unless Strasbourg reduce their reputed asking price – Everton did manage to shave around £15million off what Southampton wanted for Tyler Dibling last summer – then Doue could prove too expensive for them. The Blues have only ever gone north of £40million on transfer fees twice and that was for Gylfi Sigurdsson in 2017 and Richarlison in 2018.
They haven’t paid more than £30million since they snapped up Amadou Onana in 2022 and the £30million they paid Burnley for Michael Keane nine years ago remains the most they have ever spent on a defender. You get what you pay for though and such is the need for a quality right-back, Hill Dickinson Stadium chiefs might be wise to give the green light on a significant outlay on someone, whether that be Doue or another potential target.
They can’t all be bargain buys like Coleman and his sixty grand fee from Sligo Rovers.
*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising an industry leading 378 different parameters. Click here for more details.