OPINION
Marco Silva could suffer a potential set-back to his plans at Everton, with the Portuguese’s assistant coach Joao Pedro Sousa close to leaving Goodison Park.
Everton have made some progress this season under Silva in his first year in charge of the club, especially towards the end of the season where the Toffees managed to tighten up in defence and managed to achieve an eighth place finish in the Premier League.
However, Silva now looks set to have to search for a new assistant manager over the summer, with Everton’s number two Sousa thought to be close to securing a move to become the manager of newly promoted Portuguese side FC Famalicao, according to a report from the Liverpool Echo.
That would be a blow for Silva, who has worked with Sousa at all of the clubs he has managed so far in his career, helped the 41-year-old adapt to English football in spells with Hull City and Watford, before the pair joined Everton last summer.
However, it is thought that Sousa has always had ambitions to become a manager and Silva, therefore Silva would have been aware of the potential prospect of needing to find a replacement in the near future for his assistant manager.
Silva though would have been hoping to keep his assistant for a little while longer, as he looks to continue to improve his Everton side, which have been somewhat inconsistent this season winning 15 of their 38 Premier League matches, but also losing a further 14 games this campaign.
One of Everton’s biggest problems during Silva’s first season in charge has been their ability to deal with opposition team’s set-pieces, with a lot of the 46 goals they have conceded in the Premier League this season coming from set plays.
That will be something that Silva will be looking to address next season, and he will be hoping to appoint a new assistant manager who could offer some potential experience of English football in order to help Everton perform better defensively in that area next season.
Silva will be hopeful of making a swift appointment as Sousa’s successor, if the Portuguese does leave the club in the next few weeks, and will hope to have any new coach alongside him for the start of Everton’s pre-season training ahead of next season.