Ex-Everton winger Gerard Deulofeu has been linked with a return to Premier League football, as Aston Villa emerge as a potential destination for the Spanish international.
The 28-year-old currently plies his trade at Italian side Udinese after making an initial loan move from Watford permanent in 2021, but could reunite with former manager Unai Emery who he worked with at Sevilla during a loan spell at the La Liga club in 2014/15.
Deulofeu began his career at Barcelona, but joined Everton on an initial 12-month loan deal back in 2013/14, when Roberto Martinez made the Spaniard one of his first recruits.
The Prodigious talent immediately endeared himself to Everton fans, scoring on his debut for the club in a 2-1 League Cup win over Stevenage at Goodison Park.
The attacker scored his first league goal in blue in the November of 2013, in a 4-0 home win over Stoke City, scoring his second 8 days later through a memorable 85th minute strike at the Emirates Stadium to earn the Toffees a 1-1 draw.
With 3 league goals and 4 in all competitions, Deulofeu retuned to Barcelona at the end of the loan spell, before immediately joining fellow La Liga side Sevilla on loan, though his time at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan was unsuccessful, and in the summer of 2015, Deulofeu moved to Merseyside on a permanent basis.
Joining for a reported fee of £4.2 million, the signing was greeted with excitement from Everton fans, though in truth Deulofeu struggled to rediscover the form that had made him such a favourite at Goodison Park.
His first goal for the club as a permanent player came at the Madejski Stadium as the Blues came from behind to beat Reading 2-1 in the Third Round of the League Cup, but ultimately things didn’t work out second time around.
Now at Udinese, the former Everton man scored 13 goals and provided 5 assists last season