OPINION
Everton may face a battle with West Ham to sign Andre Gomes on a permanent basis but the deck is clearly stacked in their favour when it comes to getting him.
The Liverpool Echo previously reported that the Toffees had open talks about signing the 25-year-old Barcelona midfielder but since than it’s been reported by Claret & Hugh the Hammers were willing to pay £25million in order to get him.
The 25-year-old midfielder wowed at the Toffees in his 2018/19 campaign while on loan from Barcelona and the club clearly need to do all they can to keep him in order to push on next season.
Gomes played 29 times, scoring once and assisting twice, and had a decent pass completion possession of 85.8% (Who Scored) and also regularly won his aerial duels, he won on average 1.4 per game, to help regain and retain possession for Marco Silva’s side.
The midfielder’s strength in the air and his knack for retaining possession made him a vital cog in the Toffees’ machine last season and it’s clear it would be a very difficult job to replace him.
However the Toffees have a lot going for them when it comes to potentially signing him on a full-time basis from Barcelona.
The Toffees clearly aren’t afraid to spend big shown by the fact they previously spent £45million to sign Gylfi Sigurdsson (Source: BBC) so they should be willing to match West Ham’s future potential £25million offer for Gomes, and even perhaps be willing to go higher.
Then there’s the fact Gomes knows Everton inside and out already, and that is no doubt something that makes joining the Toffees a tempting prospect as the player will surely be more willing to commit to a club where he knows he can be happy.
If that wasn’t enough to stack the deck, Toffees defender Michael Keane not only confidently shared that he thought the club would do everything to get Gomes, but claimed that the midfielder loved the club and would be happy to stay.
“Massively, they’re two top class players (Richarlison and Gomes),” said Keane on talkSPORT (Tuesday, May 28th, 16:51)
“Everton will do everything in their power to keep Andre and Kurt and keep the likes of Richarlison, we’re a club who are on the up and need to push up the table and to do that you need to keep your best players.
“Which at times can be difficult but I know all them lads love being at Everton and love the club and would be happy to stay.”
So when you take that into account, then clearly the deck is stacked in the Toffees’ favour and they should be able to swiftly secure Gomes’ services.