• England under-21 international keen to return to Germany • ‘I believe in his skills and his profile. He is a good talent’

Marco Silva has told Ademola Lookman he must learn to fight for his place at a big club as he represents “the present and the future” for Everton.

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The England under-21 international enjoyed a successful loan spell at German side RB Leipzig last season and is understood to be keen on making a permanent return to the Bundesliga club before their 31 August deadline.

Lookman has started only four Everton games since arriving for £10m from Charlton Athletic in January 2017 and faces fierce competition for a wide role against Theo Walcott, £40m summer signing Richarlison and deadline day signing Bernard.

But Silva insists there is no prospect of the 20-year-old being sold and the onus is on the winger, who was subdued in the pre-season friendly defeat by Valencia last Saturday, to stay and fight for his place.

“First of all he has to understand that he is in a big club,” said the new Everton manager, who starts his reign at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday. “I think he understands and I’m here to be clear with him in this situation. Of course, we have to understand that he went on loan and was happy there, he enjoyed the football as well, and now he deserves to stay with us.

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“I told him and our board on the first day that I believe in his skills and his profile. I did my technical analysis on him and he is a good talent. He is our present and our future. Now he has to fight for his position.

“I am here to do everything I can to make him happy again, to put him in the conditions to fight, and after that it is for him to keep his position and to fight to take it. It is not a case of we brought in Richarlison or Bernard as well [so they are ahead of him]. If he is in a better position and moment than the others then for sure he will play.”

Everton enjoyed a highly successful deadline day with Bernard, the Barcelona duo of Yerry Mina and André Gomes plus Kurt Zouma joining Silva’s squad. Zouma’s loan move from Chelsea was ratified on Friday with Everton having submitted the deal sheet before Thursday’s 5pm deadline. Silva insists all four arrivals convinced him they wanted to play for Everton before the deals were completed.

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“The players did not come because they are from Barcelona,” he added. “We signed players because they thought we are a big club as well. All those we signed until now showed me they really want to come. That is important for me and the club. The market is crazy so that makes it difficult, but the players wanted to join us.

“For sure they have to be 100% with a big motivation to play [for Everton]. If they do not have that we would not bring them in. I am sure they come with this. I spoke to all of them, and from the first day when we approached them it was easy to understand what they were saying about our club. They are 100% committed to us. For now they have to forget the Champions League. They have a different challenge here, a big challenge.”