da cassino： Everton fans will be looking forward to the transfer window closing, with this off-season threatening to see the Merseyside club lose one of their top talents.
da pinnacle： With Chelsea making purposeful advances to sign John Stones from the Toffees, the defender’s future has dominated most of the transfer news coming out of Goodison Park.
Despite a disappointing second season in charge for Roberto Martinez, the Spaniard has not made wholesale changes to his squad, with only two major names of note jointing Everton this summer so far.
Tom Cleverley has been reunited with his former Wigan boss after signing from Manchester United on a free transfer and will offer the Merseyside outfit energy in the centre of the pitch.
However, the other addition is much more exciting and has the potential to get Goodison Park hearts racing.
Gerard Deulofeu has been brought back to the club on a permanent basis after an unsuccessful season away on loan at Sevilla. A modest fee of only €6million was needed to pry the gifted attacker away from Barcelona, who have cut ties with the La Masia youth product after first-team football was not forthcoming.
For Everton, the Spaniard’s return could well be creative and attacking spark that was missing for long periods of last season.
Deulofeu has been on the collective radar for quite some time, with his performances for Barcelona youth sides and for Spanish age-grade teams having scouts salivating on a regular basis in his younger days.
He was being eyed up as a player to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Andres Iniesta, Pedro and the rest of the Barcelona homegrown heroes – but this simply did not materialise.
With the Camp Nou attacking front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, the youngster never really stood a chance of making an impression with the Catalan powerhouses.
He has spoken at length of his ambition to wear the Blaugrana, the colours of his boyhood club, but it appears that he has accepted that his dream of being a Barcelona star will have to be put on the back burner for the time being.
Deulofeu showed in his year at Goodison Park on loan in 2013-14 that he has all the attributes to be a real star in English football; searing pace, untold trickery and the ability to create something out of nothing.
Martinez introduced him slowly to help him adapt to the Premier League, which he duly did, and it was only a frustrating injury that ended an excellent run of personal form for the star once he start to command a regular starting berth.
This time round, with Deulofeu knowing the club, environment and league, he will be ready to continue where he left off and make a big impression at Goodison again.
With a real point to prove, Everton look set to reap the reward of gambling on the unproven attacker in the first place and could have a real star on their hands for the foreseeable future.
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