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Marco Silva says Anthony Gordon is "really close" to being handed a call-up to the Everton first-team.

The 18-year-old trains with Silva's squad most days at Finch Farm and continues to impress the Blues boss.

Gordon made his debut in December 2017 as a late substitute in the Europa League dead-rubber against Apollon Limassol but it was only at the start of this season that the exciting teenage forward became a permanent fixture in the senior set-up.

And now the Everton manager says Gordon is pushing to be picked but says it may be better for him to be given his chance in the Premier League when the Blues are back in form - rather than on the back of three straight defeats.

"Really close. Close," Silva told the ECHO when asked if Gordon was close to call-up.

"I will tell you, unfortunately for him, it is maybe the area of the pitch where we have the most quality. Maybe it is the position where the competition is hardest.

"Of course, he can play in the three positions in our attack line and we are talking about different players but he has more or less the same profile as Richarlison, who can play left, right or can play behind the striker, or even alone upfront.

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"Unfortunately for him, when you look for out-wide positions these are the positions where we have more solutions and different solutions, more solutions but since we took him to work with the first-team every single day I am always seeing improvements.

"Even in moments when he doesn't do all the session with the team, he is always aware of everything, trying to learn everytime. When he is doing something individual with one of my staff, he is always trying to improve and you can see results.

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"He has quality and, in my opinion, since I join Everton he is the player closest to achieving a place in the first-team.

"When I look at him, he has real high quality. His intensity now is different, he is working with the first-team, he changed his way of playing in some moments and he is doing really well. It is up to him to keep working hard because with his level he will achieve the first-team, I have no doubts."

Everton head to Burnley on Saturday, searching for a first win in over a month and Silva has explained that Turf Moor may not be the place to hand him Gordon league debut.

But the Blues boss insists the Academy product, who is being through an individual strength programme with head of performance Bruno Mendes, will see his chance "appear".

"For me it is so clear, to give chances in this type of moment we have to be sure, we have to sure," Silva said.

"We have to try to help the players perform well in as well and in some moments you can have a player who doesn't play often and he can have a little bit of freedom to play or let's give him the chance in the right moment, step-by-step, 15 or 20 minutes for him to come in and in a normal way, not with all the pressure for him to go and solve the problems.

"Now, we want our players in our attackline to take the responsibility to solve the problems, being more clinical, and putting all of this pressure on Anthony Gordon in this moment is not fair.

"He is working to get his space in the first-team and I think, in the next few times it is possible, depending on how the team react, but it will be better if the team has a different confidence because it will be easier for him.

"But he is doing well, he is playing well for the under-23s, he is making a big, big difference and he has to keep going in that way and the chance will appear for him."