Everton boss Marco Silva has confirmed that he decided to leave out Ademola Lookman from the Everton squad that faced Liverpool at Goodison Park last weekend. In a recent interview with the Liverpool Echo, the Portuguese head coach shed some light on the reasons behind his decision and said, “Against Cardiff I had to leave James [McCarthy] out of the squad and Tom [Davies] to be in the stand, it’s always tough for me.
“In the last game I did the same with Lookman. Ok, it’s part of my job to take these decisions and they [the players] have to fight and be ready for everything.”
Silva’s recent words indicate that he tends to rotate his squad so that every one of his fringe players gets a chance to feature in the match-day squad. However, a player of Lookman’s potential could be left frustrated with the lack of first-team opportunities in the high-profile matches this season.
The Merseyside derby holds a special place in a lot of the Everton players’ hearts so it is quite likely that Lookman would have been disappointed that he didn’t get a chance to feature in that game.
However, to be fair to the Toffees boss, it is a near-impossible job for any manager to keep all of his players happy and so, it is no exception in this case as well. The London-born talent could now be inclined towards a change in scenery so that he can gain some regular game time on the pitch rather than waste his time on the fringes of the Merseyside club.
The Toffees managed to grind out a 0-0 draw against their local rivals on Sunday, but they had some decent opportunities to clinch a victory in the final half-hour of the derby. Silva’s substitutions were not game changers, and so Liverpool managed to grab a point from Goodison Park despite their struggles on the pitch. A player of Lookman’s ability could have made a more significant impact if Silva was not so inclined on rotating his squad.
So it won’t be a surprise if the youngster decided to orchestrate a move away from Merseyside in search of more minutes on the pitch. Maybe, a switch to a foreign league might appeal to him.
