Silva – Delph not signed as Gueye replacement

Everton manager Marco Silva insists the arrival of Fabian Delph does not mean the club would be willing to sell Idrissa Gueye.

England international Delph completed his reported £10million move to Goodison Park from Manchester City earlier this week and the suggestion in some quarters is that the versatile defensive midfielder has been signed as a replacement for Gueye, who continues to be linked with a move to Paris Saint-Germain.

Indeed, Gueye is believed to be interested in joining the French champions, but Silva is determined to keep hold of the Senegal star and insists Delph has not been signed as his replacement. The Portuguese told the Liverpool Echo: “I will answer direct to this question. They are two completely different players.

Gana plays in one role, Fabian can do the role of Gana but he doesn’t come to our squad to replace Gana.” Silva has also praised the attitude of Gueye, who was disappointed not to seal a January switch to PSG, with the former Watford boss confirming the 29-year-old has been a model professional throughout.

“I think we took the right decision and after that Gana proved that with his best season at Everton, in my opinion,” Silva added. “Let’s see what the market will say again about Idrissa and we are here to take the best decisions for us as a football club.”

Keeping hold of Gueye would certainly boost Everton’s chances of claiming a top-six finish in the Premier League this season – the Toffees are priced at 5.00 to achieve that feat for the first time since 2014.