Everton striker Oumar Niasse played under Marco Silva at Hull City.
Marco Silva was appointed as Everton manager this week – and Oumar Niasse could be one of the big winners.
Niasse has had quite a journey since signing for Everton in 2015 under Roberto Martinez, but initially he flopped, and then he was ostracised by Ronald Koeman.
His Everton future looked bleak, and only a loan move to Hull City got him back on track.
Silva had few options when he joined Hull, and had to make desperate loan moves for Niasse and Liverpool’s Lazar Markovic to supplement his squad.
While Martinez and Koeman disregarded Niasse, Marco Silva saw something in him.
He scored five goals for the Tigers and started playing regualrly in English football for the first time.
Silva told ESPN in 2017: “Niasse was a player who was different to our other strikers.
“He’s one player to come here and help us. He feels as well that we believe in him and that’s important for him and the other strikers.”
Niasse returned to Everton rejuventated, and forced his way back into the first team.
If Silva had ignored him at Hull, that would not have been possible.
Niasse is far from perfect, and The Sun reported last week that he was the source of dressing room unrest.
He is not going to be Everton’s Plan A, but Silva showed at Hull that he sees him as a very useful Plan B.
Niasse has Silva to thank for getting his career back on track and it would be a surprise to see him sold this summer without getting a second chance under the Portuguese boss.
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