Everton journalist Greg O’Keeffe has hinted that Andre Gomes’ time at Goodison Park may soon be up.
The lowdown
Gomes joined Everton from Barcelona for a fee of £22m in the summer of 2019 off the back of a season-long loan on Merseyside. The Portuguese midfielder still has nearly two-and-a-half years left on his £112k-per-week contract (the third biggest at the club).
On Saturday, the 28-year-old made his 11th Premier League appearance of the season as a half-time substitute in Everton’s 2-0 defeat against Southampton.
An early yellow card for Allan and an injury to Abdoulaye Doucoure gave him an opportunity to impress, but, in the words of The Liverpool Echo’s Connor O’Neill, he ‘struggled to cope with the pace of the game’, being given a match rating of just four out of 10.
The latest
On The Athletic’s matchday forum, it was put to O’Keeffe that Gomes’ introduction was a ‘major negative move’.
The journalist agreed with that assessment, responding: “Gomes’ time just seems to be petering out now. Doucoure’s return can’t come quickly enough.”
The verdict
The numbers from Saturday’ defeat appear to back up O’Keeffe’s assessments.
Gomes picked up a SofaScore rating of 6.3/10, with only Jonjoe Kenny scoring lower in the Everton ranks (6.2). He won just two of the six duels he contested, committed three fouls and lost the ball 12 times in the space of 45 minutes.
On top of that, it was Gomes who surrendered possession ‘all too easily’ (in the words of O’Keeffe’s colleague Patrick Boyland) in the lead-up to Stuart Armstrong’s opener for Southampton.
In terms of his future, it seems like Frank Lampard is already planning midfield additions which could push him further down the pecking order. A report at the weekend claimed that the 43-year-old has made contact with Chelsea over Conor Gallagher, which adds to the feeling that Gomes’ time at Goodison may indeed be spluttering to a meek conclusion.
In other news, this Everton trio also struggled at St Mary’s