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The Liverpool Echo, after giving a lengthy statistical analysis, believe that Everton should look to avoid a move for loan star Andre Gomes on a permanent basis, amid reports that Barcelona will look to charge a fee of around £40m.
Whilst they justify their argument well and make it a convincing one, there is plenty to discuss as to why the Toffees should in fact splash the cash on the Portuguese international, who has impressed this season since arriving from the Camp Nou.
Why should they sign him?
Gomes keeps things ticking over nicely in the middle of the park alongside the perfect foil for his skills in Idrissa Gueye, who is more defensively-minded which allows the Toffees' No.8 to focus on punching balls into the forwards and keep possession for his side.
Everton recently enjoyed an uplift in results after the 6 foot 2 midfielder was taken out of the starting XI, beating Cardiff before drawing with Liverpool, but last weekend's capitulation against Newcastle proved that the Portuguese is not the underlying problem.
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You could argue validly that spending such a figure on Gomes wouldn't be a smart idea, but whilst it may not look like an issue right now, the midfield areas could be severely depleted at Goodison Park in the near future.
Signing him could be hugely necessary
The aforementioned Gueye handed in a transfer request in a bid to force a move to Paris Saint-Germain back in January for a £25m fee, and one would assume that the Ligue 1 champions will come back in for the Senegalese international when the summer rolls around.
Additionally, the future of Morgan Schneiderlin could be deemed as unclear. Whilst the Frenchman has recently taken some big steps forward in turning his Toffees career around, he will turn 30 before the end of the year, which could perhaps signal Everton's last chance to get a decent fee for a man that cost them up to £24m with very little in return.
Furthermore, Marco Silva will perhaps be hoping that the Spanish champions lower that fee somewhat, due to the two clubs having a good relationship after signing off deals for Barcelona duo Lucas Digne and Yerry Mina back in the summer.
As previously mentioned, with Gueye and Schneiderlin not looking like they can be relied on for the foreseeable future, a big-money move for Gomes, who has plenty of mileage left in the tank at just 25 years of age, would be a sensible move for Everton.