Respected Everton journalist Adam Jones has revealed that Barcelona loanee Andre Gomes does not have an option to buy included in his Toffees contract, but delivered hope over the club doing a transfer deal.
The 6ft 2in Portugal international [Source: Transfermarkt] joined from the Spanish giants on a season long loan this summer, but Jones has refuted suggestions that the club have an option to buy him permanently.
“No, there’s no automatic option in Andre Gomes’ loan for Everton to buy the midfielder,” he told the Liverpool Echo‘s Q&A session [30/10; 12:54].
“But that doesn’t mean the deal won’t happen – and neither does the 25-year-old’s astronomical buy-out clause. If the Portuguese international continues in this strong form throughout the campaign, then there’s little doubt the Blues will surely be interested in a permanent move.”
OPINION
Jones’s mention of Gomes’s release clause is in reference to Spanish publication Sport’s report that the Portuguese midfielder has an £89million release clause at the Nou Camp, surely out of the Toffees’ price range. As the journalist says, though, the presence of the release clause doesn’t mean that Everton won’t be able to sign Gomes permanently once his loan ends at the end of the season. The lack of an automatic option doesn’t really mean anything as far as the club’s attempts to sign Gomes permanently goes, either. If he continues to display the form that he has in his first couple of starts for the Toffees then Marco Silva will surely move to sign his compatriot permanently ahead of next season. The midfielder has looked excellent in a blue shirt so far, providing some much needed composure and technical ability in the middle of the park for Everton. He will surely be coveted next summer, despite the lack of an automatic option in his contract.