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Paul Merson delivered his verdict on the future of Andre Gomes this weekend, and he highlighted a hard truth that some Toffees fans may not want to accept.

Everton fell to a humiliating defeat on Saturday, ending Fulham’s run of nine consecutive defeats.

Tom Cairney and Ryan Babel each scored clever finishes from just inside the box in the second half, downing the Toffees 2-0 at Craven Cottage.

Gomes has drawn some attention for his reckless challenge on Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Merson weighed in on the Barcelona loanee’s future when discussing the game on Sky Sports’ flagship Soccer Saturday programme.

What's he said?

“I like him. There is talk of Tottenham coming in for him for £30million. Again, this is what happens, you have a couple of good games and other teams look at the loan situation and think 'Oh, he's only on loan, I'll take him'. He's a Tottenham player,” he said on Sky Sports, as reported by HITC.

Indeed, Spurs were linked with a move for the Portuguese international recently; The Telegraph claimed the north Londoners are weighing a £30m bid.

Merson continued: “He's there (at Everton) now and if he keeps on getting the confidence, but he does get brought off now and again when he isn't playing too well. He's not one of them players who you field the team around. You don't feel that he's the star man."

Not a superstar

Gomes is a supremely technically gifted player, and after his performance at Anfield many expected the on-loan Toffee to kick on and improve even further from week to week.

Unfortunately, we have only seen glimpses of his potential since then, barring the odd great performance, and Merson’s last comment is a cold hard truth – Gomes is not a player you build your team around.

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For too long Everton have splashed big money on players who don’t live up to the expectations, and throwing £30m at a player who has yet to really put it all together on a consistent would be a monumental risk.

Gomes is a tidy midfielder, but at £30m he would eat into a big chunk of the summer transfer kitty and as Merson stated, he is not the backbone of a great side.