Andre Gomes exit twist emerges at Everton as French journalist shares unexpected update
Lille will “try everything” to strike another deal with Everton for Andre Gomes, according to Foot Mercato journalist Sebastien Denis.
Foot Mercato’s official Twitter account relayed a video clip of Denis’ update on Wednesday (21 June), with the French journalist adding that Everton have a “real will” to keep hold of the 29-year-old Portugal midfielder, who spent last season on loan at Lille in Ligue 1.
Gomes clearly did well enough for Lilles to try and extend his stay in Northern France with Denis admitting the Everton outcast “is a hell of a plus” for Les Dogues when he plays.
Unexpected Everton stance
If it’s true that Everton are trying to keep hold of Gomes, that’s a shock.
We do feel a bit for the Portugal international because he was a decent player for the Toffees before picking up a serious ankle injury playing against Tottenham in November 2019.
For a player presumably on big wages, he was one of many underperformers for Everton following his return and being loaned out to Lille last summer made a lot of sense.
And it seems he flourished in France.
He was rated as L’Equipe’s man of the match in Lille’s 3-1 win away at Rennes in February, scoring an 8/10 rating from the hard-to-impress French newspaper.
The former Barcelona and Valencia ace ended the season with 27 appearances in all competitions for Lille and for them to want to keep him speaks volumes about how well he did.
Are Everton trying to keep him because of his improvement in Ligue 1? Maybe they are.
However, the Blues need to offload players who aren’t fitting the bill right now so even if Gomes did improve, he’s got to go and if Lille are keen, let’s do business with them so Gomes can continue his career elsewhere and we make some much-needed money.