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Marco Silva has given his thoughts on the Everton fans' desire to bring Kurt Zouma to the club.

On Friday, Blues supporters launched an online campaign which got the hashtag “#FreeZouma” trending on Twitter.

The Chelsea man impressed while on loan at Goodison Park last term and made himself an important part of Silva's squad.

Everton are still on the hunt for a central defender before Thursday's transfer deadline, but the boss has reiterated that the club could pursue other targets.

The manager also admitted he hadn't seen the online campaign, but didn't want to talk about the Blues' former loanee.

Silva told the ECHO : "No I don't look [on social media]!

"What is the priority is the central defender, when cannot go through a tough season with Mason [Holgate], Michael [Keane] and [Yerry] Mina - even if the boy [Lewis] Gibson is working with us, he's not ready yet for this level.

"I don't like to talk about Zouma, because he's not our player. I don't need to repeat anything about him.

"Our fans' reaction shows everything about what we as a club and me as a manager think about him.

"But it's not fair for me [to comment] first because I have to respect the defenders we have here even if they know we want one more, and Zouma is a Chelsea player. It's not the moment to talk about him.

"If it's not Zouma, it has to be another one with quality to improve our squad and to give competition."