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Marco Silva has opened up on his thinking over Moise Kean in the wake of the young striker being taken off at half-time.

The 19-year-old was handed a fourth start of the season in midweek as Everton faced Watford in the Carabao Cup but lasted only until the break where was replaced by Theo Walcott.

Silva has come in for criticism in some quarters for his handling of Kean with complaints also being levelled at the Blues boss that he was playing the forward out of position on the right-wing.

The 42-year-old insists Italian international Kean is deployed in that role for his country but has stressed that he believes the teenager can also play as a central striker.

(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

In a detailed interview about the £25m signing from Juventus, Silva has also said:

Kean needs “time to adapt” to the Premier League but believes 'capacity to achieve'

He is under “zero pressure” to play the big money signing from Juventus

How Everton are working hard on Kean's first touch and body positions

Why Kean's attitude in training is spot-on

“For me, it is clear about Moise Kean's position,” Silva told the ECHO.

“If you look at Moise Kean in the national team, he plays always as a right-winger, always as a right-winger, many, many times as a right-winger.

“You are talking about a player who played, maybe, seven games in the starting XI last season at Juventus, he played some games as a striker, some games as a winger, when he came in to some games [from the bench] he played many moments as a winger as well. He can play both positions.

“He is a young lad, he needs to adapt to the model, to the type of game, for everything, for the moves we want to do – not just as a striker but as a winger as well – and I cannot say to you that it is better for him to play in one position over another. He can play both positions, it is up to him to keep working and keep adapting to the Premier League system and the English football system as well because it is so fast and so quick, we are up and down everytime and he has to adapt.

“Now he is working more as a right-winger and when he goes to the national team he is playing as a right-winger but he can play as a striker as well. I can tell you that in the training session today [Friday morning] he worked in both positions.”

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

Kean has started four games since joining from Juve in August but has completed the full 90 minutes just once.

But Silva has revealed that the young forward is showing the hunger in training at Finch Farm in order to earn more places in the starting XI.

“It is a very difficult job,” Silva said of being a striker in the English top flight.

“You are talking about a young boy but a clever boy as well. He understands the time, he understands that he is here to work really hard to get his chance and play football, which is what he loves.

“What I can tell you, he is working hard, he is trying to get his chance. After the Brighton match (in which Kean didn't feature) we had a session on Sunday morning and he came here and he worked really strongly and showed me he was able to play against Watford. It is what I want from him.

“In some moments he has performed better, in other moments not so good but he is a 19-year-old player and he needs time to adapt but in the meantime if you can give him some minutes it will be really good for him as well.”

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Despite the early struggles to adapt to the rigours of the Premier League, Silva remains in no doubt that Everton have acquired a young player with vast potential.

And the Portuguese coach has reminded Kean that he was having similar conversations with a raw Richarlison when he was brought over to England in the summer of 2017.

“He needs to really work to achieve the level he has the capacity to achieve because he has some very, very good things but he also needs a lot of work and he needs time,” Silva said.

“But two seasons ago I was saying the same to Richarlison and some of the other young players we have. Maybe last season I was saying the same thing about Lookman or Dominic and for him it will be the same. I know about all the expectations around him, I know everything, I know what we spent and when a player comes from a big, big club you expect, always, that they he will come here and play but let's see how many situations happen in the Premier League with a player of 19 coming form abroad and comes here and plays. Let me know.”

Asked if he felt any pressure to play the £25m signing, Silva replied: “Zero pressure. Zero for me. Forget money, forget clubs they come from, forget everything. This is football, they have to come in [and work hard] and this is what Moise Kean is doing. Work hard, show your quality in training sessions and games but pressure [to play him]? Forget it. No chance.”

So which aspects of his game must Kean improve on to force his way into Silva's thinking on a more regular basis?

“We are working with him on many, many things, like we are with the others,” the Everton manager said.

“I don't just want to put focus on him because we are working with Richarlison, Dominic and Cenk too.

“His first touch, his first reception, is one of things he should improve, that is clear, because if he controls the ball well and his first touch is good then it moves into his strongest part of his game where he can turn and go. He is fast and strong in that moment. But it is his first touch, that first reception and his body position sometimes will make the difference and it is something we are working with him on.”

Silva's decision to send Walcott out for the second-half of Tuesday's game in place of Kean raised eyebrows but the experienced winger helped improve Everton, who had been poor in the opening 45 minutes.

The Blues boss agrees Walcott made a “big impact” but stressed the victory didn't come about just because the 30-year-old was making more intelligent runs and stretching the visitors' defence in a way Kean hadn't been able to.

“Ok, you are talking about two different profiles of a football player,” he said.

“But what Theo works on here in training sessions, Moise Kean is also working on them. That type of move and that type of situation. You are talking about two different profiles – Theo is a little bit of an agile player, Moise is stronger with his body and in physical contact – but the moves, and the timing of the moves, they know.

“But when you look at the way Theo came in and made a big impact in the game, he was not just because Moise Kean was not there. The way we started the game, also, was a little bit different and so we cannot just look at Moise Kean and say because we changed him with Theo, that changed the game. Theo had a big impact, I fully agree, but we started the second-half playing more forward and faster and that helps the wingers and attack players to perform in a different way.”