Despite playing regularly toward the end of his first season under Marco Silva, Bernard’s future at Goodison Park has been cast into doubt inside a year of joining the Toffees.
Italian football news site Calciomercato 24 have claimed the Brazilian may be sold in the upcoming window as he is unhappy on Merseyside, citing an article first published by The Mirror although this cannot be located.
Fellow Italian outlet Calciomercato also cited the same information, but opted against specifying which British publication had originally discussed his future.
Given the uncertainty of the source of the information, it would be easy to cast the report aside without a second thought. However, Calciomercato 24 do add some meat to the bones of the claims – unlike Calciomercato – as they mention that AC Milan were very keen on the midfielder during his time with Shakhtar Donetsk, and could return to that stance if the 26-year-old is available.
They also mention the uncertainty that surrounds Suso and Samu Castillejo, who the Rossoneri may look to cash in on once the summer market opens. If the pair do vacate the San Siro, Calciomercato 24 hint this may lead to Technical Director Leonardo reaching out to our Director of Football Marcel Brands to discuss a deal for the £16.2million-rated Brazil international.
What has supposedly led to Bernard becoming unhappy on Merseyside is that his minutes on the field do not represent his quality.
By the end of his first Premier League campaign, the Belo Horizonte-born creator had recorded 2,128 minutes of action, on top of one full outing in both the FA Cup and EFL Cup.
The 5 ft 4 midfielder also started our last ten top-flight encounters, which forced the boss to move Richarlison over to the right-hand side of our attack.
Bernard also scored once in each the Premier League and FA Cup, while assisting four top-flight goals.