Stay in control of the latest Blues news with our Everton newsletter Sign up now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Andre Gomes hadn't intended on baring his soul in an interview about life at Barcelona.

But in opening up about the “bit of a hell” he was experiencing on the sidelines at the Nou Camp it sent him on a journey towards a happier place.

Everton hope, and believe, that is with them.

Gomes insists he lives for the day and isn't looking towards the end of the season but the Blues have been given sufficient encouragement to try and turn his loan move into a permanent switch this summer.

The 25-year-old is, clearly, contented at Goodison.

Follow all the latest Everton news and transfer rumours HERE

Gomes emits positivity when he sits down with the ECHO at Finch Farm and over the course of the interview reveals himself to be an articulate, reflective and, almost, philosophical person.

It feels as though the troubles at Barcelona have shaped him this way.

“Obviously, I didn't want to say everything I said,” Gomes reveals.

“At that moment, I was struggling a lot inside and sometimes the people who you are talking to help you to say what you want to say, and I think that was the case.

“I was struggling and I just said everything naturally.

(Image: Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images)

“I believe that there are a lot of players who feel the same and sometimes feel they can give but can't and don't have an explanation.

“It was more about that. I was struggling and I couldn't find a way to go out and enjoy the game, enjoy the fans, and after that I started to understand things a little bit more and enjoying football more.”

His quality, as classy midfield player with the power to succeed in the Premier League, is what matters most but, as Marcel Brands highlighted this week, he also has the type of character that fits well.

It's obvious that Gomes is in a different headspace to the one he occupied when speaking to Panenka magazine just over a year ago, as he poured out his heart on the torment he was feeling at Barca.

But the experience has given him fresh perspective and seen him reorganise his priorities.

“Some people can may be confused and think that the football player is a weak person but it is nothing about that,” he added.

“Eveyone in their job can sometimes feel that when they are struggling. After the interview, I felt from the players that, maybe at some point in their lives, they had also felt that and it was normal.

“I kept moving on and working hard and, like I said, tried to enjoy my football and be happy.

“That is what I tried to do until the end of the season and what I am trying to do this season.”

Gomes has recently recaptured the form he displayed after making his long-awaited debut in October and admits to feeling the pace of the Premier League during a packed December and January.

(Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

But the smile has never been off his face and the former Valencia man says that even the frustration of being made to wait to play was softened by the rapport he struck up with team-mates and backroom staff alike.

One man, in particular.

“When I came here injured, the first person I spoke to from the club was Danny,” he said of Everton's Head of Therapy Services Danny Donachie.

“Since then we figured out that Phil Neville is a big friend of Danny and is a big friend of mine.

“Since then we have had a really good connection, he is a really amazing person and we spent time together.

“He was one of the first people I connected with.”

“Before I came here for the interview I was speaking with him,” he continued, smiling.

“He was really important for me at the beginning because I came here injured and nobody wants to go to a new team injured."

The other, key, individual in Gomes' Everton experience is Marco Silva.

Before signing, he sought the advice of Lucas Digne - who had just completed a permanent move from Barcelona a week earlier - but he says the manager was “crucial” in his decision.

(Image: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

“I think Marco helped a lot,” he explains.

“We spoke a few times and he tried to explain the way the club wants to go and how the team was at that moment. That helped a lot in me taking the opportunity to come here. Of course, I had other clubs (interested) but it was easier after speaking to Marco.

“I asked Lucas what it was like when he came here. I asked him about the training ground, the Academy, everything about the club.

“It was totally different because I knew Lucas much better than Marco and I think everything helped but Marco had the crucial impact, I would say.”

Not that the “lads”, as he calls them, haven't also played their part in Gomes' happiness at Everton.

He says the gentle ribbing his received for a mistake on his impressive debut against Crystal Palace only added to his feeling of being at home.

“Everybody, the staff, the kitmen, the physios and my team-mates,” he says, when asked who else he has bonded with.

“I have a few team-mates who don't speak English well and I can speak Portuguese, Brazilian and Spanish and so sometimes I can be the connection.

“It was really easy to come here because my team-mates are all brilliant and to help the guys who can only speak a little bit of English, it was a good way for me to be a part of everybody.

“It was very easy to adapt here. It was, for me, a little bit different. Normally, the expectation when you go to a new club in Europe, with new team-mates, it can sometimes be difficult, you never know what to expect because you don't know the other people but it was really easy here and the lads make it easy.”

How you can listen to our Royal Blue Everton FC podcasts On Apple Podcasts, click HERE. On Acast, click HERE. On Spotify, click HERE. On Castbox, click HERE. On Overcast, click HERE. On Player FM, click HERE. On Google Podcasts, click HERE. On Beyond Pod, click HERE. On Stitcher, click HERE. Don't forgot to subscribe to Royal Blue: The Everton FC Podcast channel as that will help us reach more Blues. And if you'd like to join our Royal Blue podcast Facebook group, click HERE.

“After the Crystal Palace game, I figured out that I had gone five months without playing," Gomes said of his Everton bow.

“My last game with Barcelona had been in the April, I didn't go to the World Cup so I didn't play in the summer and when I came back I was out for eight weeks. It was a long journey.

“During the game, it was really good for me, especially the way the fans gave me a welcome to the club. It was amazing, I was really, really happy with that and I think the game was good, we won 2-0.

“It was funny, also.

“In the dressing room after the game we were laughing a lot, about me, because in one situation I had the ball under control but then fouled a player when I try to make the pass.

“They gave me the welcome to the dressing room by laughing at the situation. That game had everything and, in the end, I was really, really happy.”

Popular in the dressing room and popular in the stands, the desire for Gomes to stay at Everton could not be greater.

But what is important to him at this stage of his career?

“To be honest, I try not to think about that,” he said.

“One thing football has given to me is teach me how to manage situations and how to enjoy it day by day.

“Everyday is a new challenge and every weekend in the Premier League is a new challenge and so I only try to think only in the present.

“If I think further ahead than that then I will probably lose my mind in some way so I am trying to finish the season in the best way possible, give my best in every training session and in every game. We will see in the end.

“Sometimes we don't stop and don't figure out that the most important thing is to be happy and enjoy...sometimes we cross that path slightly.

“When we win a title or win a few important games we don't enjoy the moments.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

“Especially after my time in Barcelona, there were good things and really bad things, so this year was really good for me to understand that we have to enjoy it more because we love football, it is our job, but we have to enjoy it more.”

Gomes certainly seems to be doing that at Everton.