And when asked on Friday if talk of other clubs being interested in Gomes affected Everton’s situation with the player, Toffees boss Silva said: “Nothing, zero. Why would it affect us?

“I understand maybe some clubs are linked with him, I don’t know really. But nothing changes in our way, what’s in our mind.

“When you have good players in your squad that means other clubs are looking to them as well. For me, it is a normal situation in football.

“At the right moment we have time to talk about the situation, and let’s see what we can do to keep him or not.”

Silva had said of Gomes earlier this month: “He’s a high-quality player and everything that we can do to sign a player like him I think will be really important for us.”

Everton are preparing for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Manchester City, for which midfielder Idrissa Gueye is a doubt.

Gueye came off in the second half of the 2-2 home draw with Watford on Monday, and Silva said: “He finished the last game with a small problem, nothing special. We need to assess him again this afternoon and tomorrow and take a decision.”

Everton, who are seventh in the table, face a City side who suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season last weekend when they were beaten 2-0 at Chelsea.

Silva added: “We know City are a very good team with a very, very good manager (Pep Guardiola). We know we are playing possibly against the best Premier League team.

“It will be tough for us, but it is a good game for us to enjoy. To challenge a team like City will be tough but our players have already shown we like these type of games.”

City’s David Silva is sidelined, while Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero could make their returns to action and Fernandinho and John Stones are being assessed.

The Everton manager was asked about City’s injury situation and whether it could, on that basis, be a good time to face them.

He said: “Just because there are different players, nothing changes in their style of play, in their quality.

“It’s easy to understand how they want to do the things, but in the end they do the things really well. They have a lot of individual quality in their attack line to create chances to score.

“If David Silva plays, Bernardo Silva, what is the big difference? I haven’t seen a big difference. Maybe you are talking about De Bruyne as well but this season he maybe only played twice, three games (five times in all competitions), and I didn’t see a big difference in City.

“We are talking about two fantastic players, David Silva and De Bruyne, and it’s possible they won’t play. But Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero didn’t play the last game (Wednesday’s 2-1 Champions League win against Hoffenheim), but I think they will be available to play.

“And for sure it will be a strong side we play against.”

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