According to a recent report from The Times, Andre Gomes’ future appears far from certain heading into the January transfer window. The Portugal international currently plays his football at Spanish giants Barcelona but sealed a loan move to Everton back in the summer, where he has since impressed greatly to prompt speculation about a possible permanent move.

And reports suggest that Gomes isn’t sold on returning to the Nou Camp at the end of his temporary spell at Goodison Park, which suggests that the door is very much ajar for Toffees director of football Marcel Brands to strike what would be the biggest Everton coup of them all.

The Breakdown

Ultimately, the Dutchman took over from Steve Walsh at Everton back in May and played his part in what many felt was a hugely successful summer transfer window for Marco Silva’s side, with Gomes one of several very shrewd additions.

The likes of Yerry Mina and Lucas Digne also made the move from Barcelona, both to great effect so far, while the big money signing of Richarlison is looking like a fantastic piece of business given how quickly he has hit the ground running on Merseyside - add in a loan move for the highly-rated Kurt Zouma, and Everton got it right during the summer.

And a temporary move for Gomes was another widely praised by many, and his early exertions at Goodison Park further underline that given the 25-year-old has made a centre midfield spot his own in recent weeks, starting their last six Premier League matches, in turn helping Silva’s side to three wins and a draw in that time.

And after a magnificent display in the Merseyside derby on Sunday, in which Gomes helped dominate the midfield area for Everton, it’s clear that Silva’s team are a much better one with the Portuguese ace in it - thus, a permanent move must be under serious consideration.

The midfield area has been something of a problem in recent times given the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin and Tom Davies have failed to convince alongside Idrissa Gueye, while James McCarthy’s injury problems have left him on the sidelines for much of the last 12 months - Gomes has somewhat solved that issue though.

Yet Silva and his team will be hoping that it’s a long-term solution and not a short-term one, which is why reports that Gomes isn’t overly sold on returning to Barcelona is exactly what they wanted to hear - a permanent transfer could thus be in the offing.

And given just how brilliant he has already been, and how much better Everton are when he plays, it’s clear that landing the 25-year-old permanently would represent Brands’ biggest coup of the lot - it’s the sort of signing that would make the top six sit up and take note.

Thus, the door does appear to be ajar for Brands to strike a permanent agreement with Barca for Gomes, in what would represent the biggest coup of them all.

Everton fans… what do you think? Let us know!