Silva pours cold water on Spurs-Barcelona talks about midfielder

Everton fans woke up this morning to see rumours in the news that on-loan midfielder Andre Gomes has already agreed terms with Tottenham Hotspur for next season, and that the London side only need to agree on a transfer fee with Barcelona to finalize the move.

However, in his pre-match conference ahead of the Toffees trip to Spurs in Sunday’s Premier League finale, Marco Silva clarified that he had been in touch with the midfielder and that no such deal had been made.

“The only feedback I hear until now is from Andre and what Andre said to me.

“Our relationship is really honest since the first day. He hasn’t decided nothing about his future and his agent either. That is what I can say to you.

“I’ve already said about our talks, not just with him but with Zouma also. Now it’s up to us to show our ambition, with the clubs and with the players.”

When pressed about how hopeful he was that deal would be made, Silva added -

“I will repeat what I said to you the last few months. Not just him, but him and Zouma, they were key players for us during this season.

“The others are important. They didn’t do anything alone. Their other team-mates helped them too. They welcomed them. We, as a technical staff, were demanding of them.

“It was important for me to see. Maybe ten months ago when we talk about Andre, we believed in him when maybe no other clubs believed in him.

“Of course, we are talking a fantastic footballer, I know that. We enjoy the moment, we enjoy the footballer and with Zouma it’s more or less the same.”

This will come as a relief to Everton fans, though this doesn’t mean that the Champions League finalists will give up now as they attempt to strengthen a weakened and ageing midfield for next season.