“I’m back!” That was how Gerard Deulofeu announced his move to Everton in late June. Another summer brought another move and another return. He has gone from Barcelona to Everton to Barcelona to Sevilla to Barcelona to Everton in two years, never sure where he would end up. A clause included in the £4.2m (€6m) deal that took him to Goodison Park for a second time means he could yet return to Catalonia but the enthusiasm underlined that this time feels different. He feels different. “There is life beyond Barcelona,” he says.

Everton confirm £4.2m capture of Barcelona winger Gerard Deulofeu Read more

When Deulofeu headed back to Barcelona from his first loan spell at Everton in 2013-14, he insisted he had learned a lot but had always anticipated a swift return; he was, he said, ready to triumph at the Camp Nou. Instead, with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez ahead of him, he was sent away again, to Sevilla. When he returned 12 months later, his mind was made up, his sights elsewhere. No more temporary solutions, no gap years, no waiting. He took two decisions: one, he did not want to be loaned out again and, two, he wanted to join Everton, as their player this time.

Everton’s Barkley and Deulofeu drag victory from confusion at Reading Read more

“Once a blue, always a blue,” his announcement concluded. A few days later he saw a banner stretched beneath a billboard. “Welcome home Deulofeu” it said. Born in Riudarenes, Catalonia, home was always FC Barcelona, whom he had joined at nine, travelling almost 100km daily to train, and for whom he had made his first-team debut aged 17 in October 2011. But last summer Deulofeu let go.

If it was a decision tinged with sadness or even bitterness, there is little sign of that as he talks. He is quiet, a touch of timidity perhaps, but nor does he sound like a kid clinging to Catalonia, despite that clause inserted by his former club. Instead, there is a sense of him starting out, properly this time. “Others might [constantly look back at Barcelona], but that’s not my case,” he says. “I want to have my career, not sit on the bench. I want to work hard, to push myself. I want to play.”

That last line is telling and “play” is the word, maybe the word that defines him – for good and perhaps even for bad. Deulofeu always stood out. The most talented player of his generation, even at Barça, his former team-mate Rafinha declared him a future Ballon d’Or winner: extremely fast, ludicrously skilful, always taking people on. Even now, as he talks about adapting, maturing and defending, as he discusses dealing with the kind of pressure that looks easy from the outside and can suffocate on the inside, he holds on to the fun of it all.

“When family and friends go to Everton they tell me that there’s a moment when I get the ball and fans get to their feet in anticipation,” he says, smiling. “There’s so much at stake that people live under permanent pressure. I’m not saying just go and have fun, nothing more. But of course football’s there to be enjoyed.”

When you have this much talent, certainly. During one youth game, Deulofeu told opponents who had spent the match brutally kicking him in vain that he would sign autographs afterwards if they liked. He later called to apologise. Twice a European Under‑19 champion, player of the tournament in 2012, when he joined first-team training he ran at Eric Abidal as if he was just another kid, unafraid. In Barcelona’s B team he scored 18 and was voted the second division’s best player, the league’s fastest too. But, still young, he got four first-team appearances, then Neymar arrived and then Suárez. When Deulofeu left for Sevilla some supporters were unhappy but Barcelona ended with a treble while Sevilla won the Europa League. They did so without Deulofeu, despite the fact he had provided more assists than anyone else, averaging one every 133 minutes.

“Gerard has brutal qualities but lacks others,” the Sevilla manager Unai Emery said. “Put him out there, one-on-one and ... pfff. But make him play with team-mates, on a big pitch, where he has to go up and down, it’s hard. He doesn’t have that maturity or capacity for sacrifice yet.”

Listening to Deulofeu talk, though, he does not sound like a man lacking maturity or awareness. His way of playing is not rooted in arrogance or selfishness, but talent; it is what comes naturally. He talks about his limitations, conscious of the need to improve other elements of his game, adding consistency to talent.

To hear him talk about Roberto Martínez is to listen to a player who welcomes guidance. You sense he considers simplistic talk of toughening up and extra effort a bit of a cliche and the implicit accusations a little unfair. What he has most wanted is opportunity but he has not always had it. “I felt my work at Sevilla deserved more minutes, not to be left out,” he says. “But I’ve now come back to the ideal place. When I went to Everton before I only started 10 or 11 games but it was a really good year. I learned. I had no doubts about going back.”

Familiarity helps. Deulofeu’s English is improving. Last time he lived in Sefton Park, south Liverpool, now he lives in Manchester. Kevin Mirallas and Muhamed Besic are nearby, as are Marc Muniesa and Bojan Krkic from Stoke City, plus Manchester United’s Spaniards. At the training ground there are three breakfast tables: “The English table; the young table; the nationalities’ table – Spain, Belgium, Argentina …” Does the young table have an age limit? “No,” he says. “Aaron Lennon sits there too.”

Above all, he has Martínez. Everton’s manager watched Deulofeu from 16 and in his own words “pestered” Barcelona to borrow him in 2013. When the opportunity came to sign permanently, neither man hesitated. There were other options, bigger offers, but Deulofeu wanted to go to Goodison. And although the winger asked for more playing opportunities in September, eliciting a renewed request for patience, the enthusiasm is clear. “Roberto’s always had faith in me. I have to work hard, I know that, but I’m very happy to be back. I was convinced things would go well with him.”

Not that it’s easy. “England’s very different. I was at Barcelona for 10 years and it’s another world. We had 65, 70% possession most weeks; we always had the ball to the point where it wasn’t necessary for me to defend. Then you leave, play somewhere else and realise you have to.”

For a player who even admiring team-mates call “a little bit selfish but with tremendous ability”, as Phil Jagielka once did, not having the ball must be a bit boring. Deulofeu’s eyes light up. “Bored? No. Of course I’d like 65% possession but that’s impossible and [anyway] I like counterattacking football: the Premier League’s end to end, almost every team plays that way, and I love that. That first wave of pressure is brutal but if you can ride that, space opens. Pam! Back and forth, back and forth.

“Maybe the world’s best players are in La Liga but the Premier ... pffff. I really like the Premier. The first year was difficult because I’d never experienced anything like it, but I love it. I feel at home: I’m a good fit. Besides, Everton’s a historic club, really English, and it’s vital to keep that identity, but we’re not so English in style: we could play in Spain. Roberto gives us the confidence to play.

“I know I need to be well positioned defensively and Roberto tells me that; if not, I won’t play. I’m learning, happy. And when I’m attacking I can take people on, cross, move. The main thing is to stay wide, opening the pitch. That’s where we’ll do most damage, especially with Rom [Romelu Lukaku]. He’s an animal. I can play a wall pass off him, give him crosses. He’s going to get assists from me and score lots of goals.

“England is passion,” Deulofeu adds. Those close to him say, with a kind of amused affection, that the warmth Everton supporters showed him genuinely played a part in his return. “The fans are more involved,” he says. “When you come out to the [Z Cars] theme, it’s lovely. The supporters have been fantastic, from the first season. I want to play well for them.”

Slowly, Deulofeu believes he is starting to do that. Everton are seventh, having lost only once, and he has provided the most assists. The draw against Liverpool is followed by Manchester United on Saturday; from one set of neighbours to another. “Mata, Ander, De Gea ... people I know well, who live near. It’ll be a good game,” Deulofeu says. “And at Goodison we have to win or draw, always.”

There’s a sense of something building. When the idea is put to Deulofeu, his response is surprisingly emphatic. “I’m convinced,” he says. “We’re young, growing together. Players like John Stones, Lukaku, [Ross] Barkley, [James] McCarthy – good players, competitive players, young players backed by experience with Phil Jagielka, Gareth Barry, Leighton Baines, Tim Howard. Europe is the objective, for now.” And then? “Roberto doesn’t talk to me about [the future] but he doesn’t need to because I see it.”

There is something striking about hearing Deulofeu talking about the future and stability, although the risk when you build a talented team is that others come and unbuild it. So far Everton have resisted bids for Stones but more will come. “That’s always the way,” Deulofeu says. “If you have a good year it’s normal for clubs to want you but then it depends on the player: if he wants to stay, he’ll stay. Or if the club won’t sell.”

It may not be just the players; could they come for the manager, too? Will Spain call? “The thing is, Roberto loves England,” Deulofeu says. Really? That much? Deulofeu blows out his cheeks. “Wooo! He’s been there 20 years. It depends on him and if a big Spanish club came, maybe. But I don’t know, eh? His life is England. He’s an Englishman now.” Deulofeu once said he would love Martínez as his manager at Barcelona; now he is not so sure. If they are to continue working together, the winger may have to stay where he is for once. And that’s fine by him.