Frozen out by Ronald Koeman at Everton, Gerard Deulofeu’s decision to join AC Milan on loan has certainly paid off.
Already lauded for his hard work and determination on the pitch in Italy, the Toffees’ loanee showed the world that he was back to his best on Tuesday night as he single-handedly ended France’s resilient efforts to keep Spain at bay during an entertaining friendly.
Coming off the bench, the former Barcelona youngster forced Laurent Koscielny into a foul in the box, allowing David Silva to score the first goal, while his well timed run and composed finish made it 2-0 a few minutes later.
Never falling in Luis Enrique’s plans at the Nou Camp, the 23-year-old was sold to Everton in 2015, but not before spending a season on loan at Sevilla, when the Barcelona manager told him to look somewhere else for game time.
Having just spent a season at Goodison Park, the La Masia youth product famously said he’d rather play for Stoke than Real Madrid, a quote which was brought back up on Wednesday by Marca, whose José Vicente Hernaez tries to understand why Luis Enrique let him leave in the first place.
Explaining that ‘no one expected this a couple of weeks ago’, the journalist described the 23-year-old’s performance as ‘Lopetegui’s great surprise’, and believes the Everton forward has now cemented his spot in the national team for the foreseeable future, as there are ‘few players like him’.
There’s one man who could hugely benefit from this come the end of the season, and that person is Ronald Koeman.
Was this exactly the reaction he was hoping for from the Everton loanee? We’ll see in the summer.
