OPINION
There’s no doubt that in the first few months of the season Barcelona loanee Andre Gomes was one of Everton’s better players, but in recent months his form has fallen off a cliff.
Never was that more obvious than in a woefully sub-par outing against Chelsea on Sunday. The Toffees produced a rousing second half performance to win 2-0, but Gomes was barely involved.
In the first half, when the Blues were definitely on top, he was even worse. He didn’t look like the player we know he can be, and this continued a worrying trend for the Portugal international since the turn of the year.
His best attribute is his passing, but he was giving the ball away left, right and centre at Goodison Park. His sloppy distribution put his team under pressure on multiple occasions and Marco Silva was surely frothing on the sidelines watching one of his most talented players underperform.
In fact, the Everton boss may now even be contemplating letting his compatriot walk away in the summer when his loan spell comes to an end.
Gomes is only on Merseyside temporarily, of course, and earlier on this term there were vocal calls from supporters for him to be locked down on a permanent deal as quickly as possible.
It would be interesting to see if the fans are still so bullish about signing the 25-year-old since his struggles began. This isn’t to say that he shouldn’t be brought back permanently, but it’s much less of a clear-cut decision than it was just a few months ago.
Silva has a lot of thinking to do on a number of aspects regarding this Everton season, but Gomes’ situation should be high on his list of priorities this summer. If the Barca man continues to disappoint then it might make sense to cut him loose.