---
title: "Silva dismisses Davies suggestion – why he decided to pull rank"
canonical: "https://readeverton.com/silva-dismisses-davies-suggestion-why-he-decided-to-pull-rank/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Elliott Cuff"
section: "Feature Writers"
published: "2019-09-14T05:00:00Z"
modified: "2019-09-14T05:00:00Z"
---

# Silva dismisses Davies suggestion – why he decided to pull rank

Marco Silva has revealed that he disagrees with Aidy Boothroyd’s assessment of Tom Davies.

The 21-year old midfielder starred in a defensive midfield role for England Under-21s during the recent international break, leading manager Boothroyd to make some claims about his club career.

The former Watford manager suggested that Davies should be given a chance to play in a holding role for Everton, insisting that he would be “really good at it”.

![Mike Hewitt/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readeverton.com/readeverton/2019/09/1138504090.jpg)

Davies has played less than ten minutes of first-team football this season, and with Silva’s midfield options fairly well stacked, the academy product’s path to the starting line-up isn’t very clear.

Speaking ahead of Everton’s fixture against Bournemouth at Dean Court on Sunday, Silva dismissed suggestions that Davies could play in a holding role for the Toffees. Silva said:

> It’s important to see him playing, it’s the main thing for me.

> I’m not seeing Tom as my holding midfielder, even if he is good and can do that in the international team.

> He played with three central defenders and four back in some moments of the game and that’s a good thing for him.,

> It’s a very good solution for us if he can do any of the three positions in the midfield line – if that’s eight position or as an offensive midfielder too.

> Our plans our so clear for him. Even if he hasn’t played this season, the competition is really tough for everyone.

> Tom is working really hard and giving his best everyday to get his chance in the squad and in the XI but that’s what I want from him.

> He has to work really hard and be ready when the chance comes to him to answer well, this is the plan not just for Tom but for all the others as well but the competition is tough.

> We have a lot of solutions, at the end I will make the decisions \[about who plays\] and my decision comes from what they do during the week here and in the matches.

### Read Everton Verdict

I can understand Silva pulling rank over Davies’ future for a number of reasons, even if his comments to come off a little abrasive. If Silva does have a long-term development plan for Tom, which he has claimed to have on multiple occasions, then I can get behind him not wanting to hear other suggestions for his future.

That being said, there isn’t anything wrong with experimentation, and if Boothroyd thinks he could excel and Silva admits that he can see potential there, why not give it a try?

No player needs to be fixed to a certain position, but it’s worth trialling them out in different ways to find the place they perform best in.