Marco Silva has admitted it was not an ideal solution in failing to sign a centre-back this summer, while the Portuguese coach also revealed where Alex Iwobi would play for the Toffees.
Silva took to face the media this morning, prior to the club’s opening Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace on Saturday, and he was asked about a variety of topics that spanned Iwobi, Kurt Zouma and the failed pursuit of Wilfried Zaha.
Speaking about the transfer window as a whole, Silva declared his transfer business a success, having deepened his squad depth. Silva said:
When you plan one window, and we did last season, it is always to improve our squad to give me better solutions. Our squad is deeper but you have to look for the general picture.
We lost two important players. It is not easy to look to the Premier League and see two important players lost.
18 players left the club this summer. We signed seven. Let’s see what will happen until the end of August. If you look for the money spent and the money come in we spent £28m.
We are happy, we always want more, but we are happy.
Silva spoke about his current squad and some of the names who have being bandied around online in association with an exit this summer, declaring that Morgan Schneiderlin will not leave the club:
It is impossible for him to leave our squad. We lost Gana in that position. Good luck to him. For that position we have Morgan or JP Gbamin. We have two players for that position. He will be our player to the end.
Silva also confirmed that further departures are still expected, when pressed about the futures of Yannick Bolasie, Kevin Mirallas and Cuco Martina, saying:
Something will happen. I have my squad closed. I will work with the players I have.
Silva also backed Yerry Mina to succeed in Kurt Zouma’s stead this season, while lamenting that the defensive situation was not something he was overly happy about. He also confirmed that Fabian Delph would miss Saturday’s game, while Leighton Baines is doubtful, and he wouldn’t reveal Phil Jagielka’s successor as club captain just yet, before speaking more about new signing Iwobi and where he will play this season:
The position we are looking to him is coming from the left and behind the striker. He can play on the right also but we are looking from the left and behind the striker.
He is a strong player and good skills also. I want him to score more goals. He will help us. He can put good intensity into the match. He will give different solutions to me.
We are happy with Richarlison, Bernard and Theo Walcott and he will look to improve.
Read Everton Verdict
It’s all very standard from the boss at this point, but I thought he came across well. Silva doesn’t like talking about players from other clubs, so we didn’t get an awful lot on Kurt Zouma, Wilf Zaha or Marcos Rojo, but we did hear enough to know about the genuine interest.
All attention now turns to Crystal Palace and what Silva will do to best prepare the team for that game, and I’m confident going into the season with Silva at the helm.
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