Everton appoint Patrick Lodewijks as goalkeepers coach

Ronald Koeman has said that he would possibly refrain from raiding Southampton for players and staff. As a result, he was unable to bring the Saints goalkeeping coach David Watson with him, but instead he has gone further into his past from during his time in the Dutch Eredivisie league.

Everton have now filled the vacant goalkeeping coach position with Patrick Lodewijks. The former goalkeeper spent 20 years in the Eredivisie as a player playing for three teams - PSV Eindhoven, Groningen and Feyenoord.

He has since transitioned to coaching and spent time as the goalkeepers coach, U-21 assistant coach and the U-21 manager with Feyenoord over the last nine seasons. Lodewijks also acted as goalkeepers coach for the Netherlands team during the time after the 2014 World Cup with the departure of Louis Van Gaal and his goalkeepers coach Frans Hoek, who both went to Manchester United.

Lodewijks will be facing potentially a challenging task as Everton currently is only staffed with Joel Robles on the senior team. It’s likely the Blues look to a more experienced first team option during this transfer window. That would be the easy answer for the coach in trying to work with an established keeper. The other possibility is Everton is forced to sign a player not clearly better than Robles and Koeman and Lodwijks might struggle to establish the number one and win games quickly.

Koeman has his staff largely filled out and Everton appear to be continuing the search for a Director of Football. Once those are done it should be full steam ahead for addressing the roster and building the 2016/2017 Everton team.