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VIDEO: Phil Kirkbride on Everton 2 Swansea 1

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He has scored as many Premier League goals this season as Fernando Torres and Michu combined - not bad for a defender signed for a bargain basement fee.

And while Everton boss Roberto Martinez stopped short of declaring Seamus Coleman the best full-back in the top flight, he has made it clear he would not swap the Irishman for anyone else.

Coleman’s 93rd-minute winner against Cardiff City on Saturday was his seventh goal of the season for the Blues - he has six in the league, one in the FA Cup - and it prompted Martinez to confess: “It is quite difficult to find a full-back better than him.”

Coleman is every inch the modern full-back, capable of making lung-busting runs up and down his flank throughout 90 minutes while also being clinical in the tackle and positionally aware when on defensive duty.

Attacking is his undoubted strength, though. In terms of goals scored, he leads the way for defenders in European football’s five leading leagues.

In the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1, no-one can match Coleman’s goals tally. The Republic of Ireland international is one ahead of a clutch of players with five to their name - Layvin Kurzawa (Monaco), Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolsburg), Serge Aurier (Toulouse), Yuko Nagatomo (Inter) and Mehdi Benatia (Roma).

His next nearest rivals in the Premier League are Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel and Cardiff City’s Steven Caulker, with four each.

Coleman, in 26 league appearances this season, has created 32 chances and has a pass accuracy rating of 87%. Impressively for a defender, he has picked up only one yellow card (against Manchester City) in the league all season.

The 25-year-old also has a handy knack of scoring important goals too. He netted in the opening-day 2-2 draw at Norwich and has also notched valuable strikes in the 2-1 wins over Swansea City, Southampton and, most recently, Cardiff.

The winner against the Bluebirds spun in off the top of his boot - not quite the kind of finish he was aiming for, but the end result was all that mattered as the ball nestled in the Gwladys Street end net and Goodison Park celebrated another three-point haul.

In home games, Coleman is a particularly prominent attacking threat. He was the only Everton defender not to make a single tackle in the win over Cardiff ( Sylvain Distin led the way with six, followed by John Stones with four and Leighton Baines with three) as so much of his time was focused on carrying the fight to the opposition.

He did not make any long passes either. All of his 53 passes were over a short distance and 96.3% found their intended target.

He put in five crosses from advanced positions and embarked on two successful dribbles, both late in the game when the Blues were pushing for a winner.

The best form of defence for Coleman is attack but Martinez, who has inherited two fine full-backs since taking over at Goodison, values his contribution at both ends of the pitch.

“In the modern game, it is rare to have someone who can defend, who can be strong in one v one situations, who can cover the centre-backs and then have the stamina to get forward,” said the Everton boss when asked about Coleman’s qualities. “He is a really exciting talent and we want to see how far he can go.”

At the age of 25, Coleman has the best years of his career ahead of him. And you have to wonder if there has been a bigger bargain buy in the Premier League history than the man from Donegal, who was signed for £60,000 from Sligo Rovers by David Moyes in 2009.

Amazingly, he scored only one goal for Sligo in 55 matches. It is fair to say he has found his shooting boots since crossing the Irish Sea.

More on EFC today:

Everton 2-1 Cardiff match report : Slice of fortune secures victory

Distin: Why qualifying for Europe would come at a price for Blues

Five things we learned from Blues' late win

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