Everton manager wants to make Gomes’ Barcelona switch permanent

Everton manager Marco Silva has confirmed the club want to make Andre Gomes’ loan switch from Barcelona permanent after just six appearances.

Gomes was one of three Barcelona players Everton signed over the summer but Silva’s side could only prise the Portugal international on a season-long loan deal.

Everton shelled out £46m combined to sign Yerry Mina and Lucas Digne from Barcelona but there is no buy-out clause in Gomes’ loan deal.

Everton supporters were forced to wait until the end of October to get a glimpse of Gomes and Silva has confirmed the club are already keen on securing his long-term future.

“There are three parts to any deal – us, Andre and Barcelona,” The Daily Mirror quote Silva as saying. “We have to go step-by-step and in the right moment.

“Of course, our owner and our board will find the right moment to try to do something and will do everything we can to achieve it, but it is not just one decision that is in our hands.

“If it was in our hands, we would possibly move faster because it is impossible to be more happy with Andre than we are in this moment.

“Everything he is doing, his performances, how he is enjoying it, how he has settled in our dressing room as a man and as a profession, it is all quality.

Gomes was denied his first Everton goal in Sunday’s Merseyside derby by a stunning Alisson save.

The 25-year-old is Everton’s seventh highest WhoScored rated player in the Premier League this season (6.82).