One Everton talent was destined to follow in the footsteps of Mikel Arteta but hasn’t played all season.
Everton have turned a corner after a dreadful start to the new Premier League season, winning two of their last three top-flight matches under manager Sean Dyche.
Before this upturn in form, Everton languished in the bottom three of the division and relegation concerns began to mount again in Merseyside even so early into a brand-new campaign.
The most recent victory came against AFC Bournemouth to inject more positivity into the Toffees camp, a resounding 3-0 victory over the Cherries secured courtesy of goals from James Garner, Jack Harrison and Abdoulaye Doucoure.
The Toffees shone from midfield in this encounter, Dominic Calvert-Lewin goal-shy in attack.
Garner – formerly of Manchester United and Nottingham Forest fame – managed to bag his first Premier League goal in Everton colours in the Cherries clash, whilst Leeds loanee Harrison also scored his first strike for the club since relocating in the summer.
The positive performances in midfield have however pushed other faces at Everton down the pecking order, with one central midfielder hailed once as the next Mikel Arteta in Andre Gomes cast aside completely.
How much did Everton pay for Andre Gomes?
In the same transfer window, summer of 2019, that saw Everton pay the big bucks for the likes of Alex Iwobi, Moise Kean and Fabian Delph in midfield, the Toffees also splashed £22m on the ex-Barcelona man after initially joining the club on loan for the 2018/19 season.
Gomes starred in his native Portugal with Benfica before moving to Valencia, with Barcelona eventually then signing the now 30-year-old.
Before swapping Spain for Merseyside, Gomes played sporadically for Barcelona in his final full season with the Catalan giants – making 16 appearances for Barca during the 2017/18 term.
Everton Andre Gomes
In total, the Portuguese midfielder would make 78 appearances for the La Liga side over a number of seasons with three goals scored along the way.
He has never quite lived up to the billing of being this exciting, star talent plucked from the La Liga superpowers for Everton which has led to him being completely frozen out of Sean Dyche’s recent plans.
Gomes, in 100 appearances for the Toffees, only has two goals to his name – scoring versus Wolves in his first season with Everton, whilst also netting in a comeback FA Cup win over Hull City last campaign.
He hasn’t been helped by injuries along the way however, an incident with Heung Min-Son during a Premier League encounter in 2019 saw Gomes sustain a fractured dislocation to his ankle and left him on the sidelines for an extended period of time.
Andre-Gomes-Everton-Premier-League
Rumours circulated that the Portuguese man might have left Everton in the transfer window – with former Daily Star journalist Paul Brown opening up to GIVEMESPORT that the midfielder didn’t want to ‘be stuck’ at Goodison Park – but that move never did quite materialise.
What was said about Gomes after his move to Everton?
Everton’s manager at the time Marco Silva was delighted with the deal to get Gomes in permanently after playing for the club on loan, stating: “Andre was a really important player for us last season and I think we were really able to help him, too.
“It was a good decision to bring Andre to the club and we made it one of our priorities to get him back. I am delighted we have been able to do that as he is a quality player and we were so happy with what he gave us.”
His performances upon joining, however, did look impressive. Indeed, Joe Cole also compared the Portuguese man to former Toffees midfield great Arteta after Everton beat West Ham in 2019, an exaggerated label Gomes has unfortunately never lived up to.
Cole said: “He could be a hero at this club in a similar vein of Mikel Arteta. Probably never went to, it didn’t work out at Barcelona for Gomes and the same with Arteta he never got through to the top clubs like a Man City or Man United, but he could be a hero here and make a home for himself.”
This is a true story of what could have been, then, for a player who has now failed to feature in any game this term.
