Marco Silva says it is ‘possible’ for André Gomes to play again this season | Football

Marco Silva has said André Gomes could play again for Everton this season despite the horrific injury sustained against Tottenham.

Gomes underwent a successful operation on Monday to repair the fracture dislocation he sustained to his right ankle following Son Heung-min’s foul at Goodison Park. The Portugal international has returned home for a few weeks as he begins a long rehabilitation process but Silva, while reluctant to put an exact time frame on the recovery, is optimistic the midfielder could feature before the campaign is over.

The Everton manager said: “What’s in our mind, and the feedback I have from our medical staff, is that it’s possible we will see André playing again this season. After the surgery and after all the examinations they did, everything went really well and we hope we can see again André playing this season. It’s not something we are 100% sure about, but we have good possibilities to do that.”

Silva is likely to be without three central midfielders at Southampton on Saturday after Fabian Delph sustained a hamstring injury in the 1-1 draw with Spurs on Sunday. Jean-Philippe Gbamin, purchased for £22.5m in the summer with a view to forming a new first-choice midfield alongside Gomes, is sidelined until the new year after surgery on a damaged thigh muscle.

The manager, meanwhile, has insisted Richarlison’s disciplinary record proves the forward is no diver but admitted the player needs to “stand more” against physical contact. The Brazil international has been refused penalties against Spurs and Brighton recently but Silva rejects the idea that a reputation for theatrics has counted against Richarlison.

“We are working on him to stand more and to be stronger but Richarlison is not a diver at all,” said Silva. “Richarlison has zero yellow cards for diving. See how many other attacking players in the Premier League have zero yellow cards for diving. There have been two penalties on him in two games but zero penalties. We are working with him to be more strong on contacts but in two seasons he has zero yellow cards for diving.”