Many have tried and failed but could Yukinari Sugawara become the elusive successor to Seamus Coleman as Everton’s first choice right-back?

Since displacing another Goodison Park stalwart Tony Hibbert in the role, Coleman has played more Premier League games for the Blues than anyone else (currently 363) and needs only a dozen additional outings in all competitions to make it into the club’s top-10 alongside Dixie Dean and Leon Osman who are both on 433. The Republic of Ireland international has turned out just 11 times in the Premier League this term – currently his lowest-ever total across a full season – but with his contract due to expire this summer, has been offered a new one-year deal.

Although he remains super-fit, Coleman will be 36 in October and at varying points this season, manager Sean Dyche has picked an even older player in his position in the shape of his own former Watford team-mate Ashley Young (38) or £20million man Ben Godfrey, whose favoured role is centre-back. Everton paid Rangers £11million for Nathan Patterson in January 2022 but while the Scotland international’s time on Merseyside has been hampered by injuries, the current boss’ reluctance to start him suggests that he does not have full confidence in the 22-year-old.

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Sugawara could fit the bill then. Munich-based Sky Sports reporter Florian Plettenberg reckons the Japan international could leave his current club AZ this summer, claiming that many teams have enquired over the €6million-valued player who is understood to be on the list of Everton, Brighton & Hove Albion, Internazionale and Wolfsburg.

Just what kind of player is he? Well Comparisonator’s Similarity Comparison reckons that the closest match in the Premier League to Sugawara is Brentford’s Vitaly Janelt with a remarkable high score of 97%m which in itself is intriguing given that while the German is occasionally deployed as a full-back by the Bees – over on the left side – he is primarily a defensive midfielder. Next up is Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson with a match of 76% similarity followed by Ecuadorian international Pervis Estupinan of Brighton & Hove Albion on 71%.

We can also use Comparisontor’s Virtual Transfer tool to correlate Sugawara’s statistics from this season in the Eredivisie against those already turning out in the Premier League in his position. Like Coleman – who once netted half a dozen times in a Premier League season a decade ago – the player from the city of Toyokawa in the Aichi Prefecture, who became the second youngest debutant in Japan’s top flight when turning out for Nagoya Grampus in 2018 before moving to Alkmaar two years later, has an eye for a goal.

Sugawara has struck four times in the Dutch top flight this term, to average 0.14 goals per 90 minutes, a figure which matches the Premier League leader in his position, Chiedozie Ogbene of Luton Town, and is higher than Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold on 0.12. His figure of 1.02 for playing in scoring attacks is also better than the Premier League’s top three of Manchester City’s Kyle Walker (0.87), Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier (0.85) and Alexander-Arnold (0.81).

Set-pieces are also in his locker and the 23-year-old, whose second goal in a 4-0 romp at Volendam on March 17 came from a direct free-kick, enjoys a 36% figure of direct free-kicks on target, which is better than either Trippier (25%) and Alexander-Arnold (17%), his only Premier League contemporaries to register. Sugawara’s distribution is also tidy and his 52.61 passes per 90 minutes would place him sixth in the Premier League in a category Alexander-Arnold tops on 64.36.

He would be seventh for successful passes (44.35), a list that Chelsea’s Axel Disasi leads on 58.15, and what is more impressive is that when it comes to key passes, as his figure of 0.75 can only be bettered by Chelsea’s Malo Gusto (0.79) and Trippier (0.77). Indeed, Sugawara’s short pass accuracy of 87% matches that of Premier League leader, Ben White of Arsenal.

Perhaps indicative of the less rigorous demands of the division he is in, some of Sugawara’s defensive numbers are lower than his current Everton peers. Godfrey tops the division for interceptions on 6.47 while the AZ man would only rank 22nd on 3.72. Patterson is fourth for ball recoveries (9.06) behind leader Trippier on 10.07, with Sugawara’s 7.68 a mere equivalent 20th.

Sugawara would offer Dyche and director of football Kevin Thelwell an intriguing proposition in the one area of the pitch that has been something of a moveable feast this season in an otherwise mostly settled side. The player, who is also AZ’s record European appearance holder, presents a different skill-set than those options at right-back currently at the Blues disposal and given that he is about to go into the final 12 months of his contract, would come with a relatively modest price tag, especially if it was to be offset by the departure of either Patterson or Godfrey.

*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.