MARCO SILVA

he is now seeing signs that Keane, recalled to the England squad this week by Gareth Southgate, is on the right path.

Silva said: “Working with the players is important to me. I’m not talking about just the centre-halves.

“The main thing is for them to defend. But that’s not the end of the process, they are also there to create and start it off. “When I was at Hull City, I encouraged Harry to bring out the ball. But he is a different player to Michael. “He has a different profile. Sometimes he takes big risks with the ball – he has to be managed not to.

“Michael is different, because he has the quality to make the right decisions. In our last game against Brighton he did really well, with and without the ball.

“What we did with Harry at Hull was give him feedback. To be clear what we want – and what we don’t. It’s the same with Michael. He’s not the same Michael I saw in my first week at the club.

“When I arrived I did my homework on him. What I saw last season and what I saw during the pre-season wasn’t really much different.

“We did with him like we did with Phil Jagielka, with Kurt Zouma and Yerry Mina as well. How we like our defensive model to be set up was made clear to him.

“He is trying to build and create. Of course, after working with him we have given him more confidence.

“If he was doing the things we want, we tell him. If he’s not, we tell him. He comes in to work, to learn. I think he can improve.”

Meanwhile, Silva has laughed off suggestions that Everton will be excluded from any proposed European Super League.

He said: “I don’t believe it will happen.”