Paul Merson suggests Marco Silva made selfish decision keeping Idrissa Gueye at Everton

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Idrissa Gueye reportedly wanted to leave Everton during the January transfer window.

Paul Merson told Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday (broadcast on 2/2; 2:42pm) that Marco Silva would have probably been thinking about his own Everton future as the Toffees denied Idrissa Gueye the chance to move to Paris Saint-Germain.

Sky Sports reports that Gueye handed in a transfer request to try and force through a move to Parc des Princes, but Everton rejected a deadline day bid of £26.2 million from the Ligue 1 side for the midfielder.

But Merson suggested that Everton may have been willing to let Gueye go had they been doing better in the league and Silva not found himself coming in for the criticism that he is receiving from the Goodison Park faithful.

“If the manager’s got a say in this, I don’t think he can afford to get rid of him and lose two more games,” he told Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports.

“So I think he was thinking of himself at the same time. Deep down he’s probably thinking, ‘if I had another 10 points, I’d probably let you go son and get a dream move, but I can’t do that. My future is on the line here and I need you here for me’. Being maybe a bit selfish.

The pressure on Silva appears to have increased as Merson’s comments came before they were beaten by 3-1 by Wolves at Goodison Park. They have now lost four of their last six Premier League games, and find themselves five points adrift of Saturday’s opponents.

And with their next five home games seeing Everton face Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, it is clearly not going to be easy for Silva to silence his critics anytime soon.