In an ideal football world, Everton would have already completed the permanent signing of Andre Gomes.
The Portuguese midfielder moved to Goodison Park on loan last summer, and was one of the club’s success stories over the past season. Given how much he struggled at Barcelona, and how happier he’s been at Everton, it may have been considered that a full transfer was only a formality.
There’s good relations between the two clubs, and Barcelona need money quickly to help finance their summer business.
However, things aren’t there yet and it doesn’t seem imminent either. Tottenham have been linked with the player, which may have been an attempt to pressure Everton into offering more money.
Marco Silva has been in Estoril, and spoke to O Jogo about his summer plans, explaining: “There is a Portuguese player in the squad that we want, which is Andre Gomes.The continuity of him does not depend on us alone, if that were the case, we were already on the way, it depends on Barcelona and Andre Gomes. If it’s a positive thing, it’s up to us to do the rest. He was very important to us and we were important to him as well, he is a great player with an excellent quality.
“There are specific positions that we want to hire. João Mário is a player of Inter and there is nothing more than that. He was my player, I was the one who put him in the main team of Sporting. He’s playing, but at the moment he’s not on the table.”
Gomes is the man Everton want, Silva has made that clear, but his comments suggest both Barca and the player are delaying things… the responsibility, or blame, for no news is down to them.
The Catalan club may be trying to push the price higher, considering what they got for Yerry Mina, and Gomes could be keeping his options open for longer than the Toffees would like.
