Marco Silva is relaxed about Everton’s goalscoring capability as the transfer window approaches, though he is fed up with being told the club need to buy a striker to replace Romelu Lukaku.

Everton’s inability to do that was one of the factors in Ronald Koeman losing his job in October 2017 and, though his successor, Sam Allardyce, brought in Cenk Tosun last January, the Turkey international has not proved quite as prolific as the club had hoped and is being used sparingly.

“I understand the reasons why I keep getting asked about buying a striker,” Silva said. “But what I can tell you is that Richarlison has scored nine goals. That is not a bad number considering he was banned for a couple of matches and has not played every game up front.

“It would be ideal to have someone scoring a goal in every game but that is not easy. When you look at the list of the best strikers in the Premier League this season Richarlison is not far from the top. To have someone scoring more would be fantastic but we have to be fair to the players we have.

“It is not just in that position we can improve either. It is not right to be always talking about the same position in the squad. You can improve everywhere. Even the best team in the world can improve.”

Silva has allowed the 21-year-old midfielder Kieran Dowell to join Sheffield United on loan for the rest of the season but said the club would fight to keep hold of Idrissa Gana Gueye, reportedly coveted by Paris Saint-Germain. “I have heard nothing about that but Gana is an important player for our squad,” Silva said. “We don’t want to lose him.”

Silva is not expecting a busy transfer window, preferring to conduct business in summer. “January is always a difficult market; sometimes you only need it if you have a bad injury or something special happens. The perfect decision would be one player to come and improve our squad but we have to be 100%, or at least 95%, sure that the signing would make an improvement.”