Reyes: Deulofeu is one to watch for Everton

He was Everton’s forgotten man at times last season, but Spanish starlet Gerard Deulofeu is set to blossom into one of the club’s key players according to former teammate Jose Antonio Reyes.

Everton lock horns with Reyes’ current employers Espanyol on Saturday at Goodison Park, and the former Arsenal hitman has been impressed with Deulofeu’s preseason form.

The 22-year-old has featured in all of the Toffees’ pre-season games so far under new manager Ronald Koeman, suggesting the Dutchman is a fan of him despite falling out of favour under Roberto Martinez last term.

After playing 17 of 19 games before the turn of the year, Deulofeu made just seven more appearances from January and admitted he had been baffled by his fall from grace.

(Photo by Boris Streubel/Bongarts/Getty Images)

But under Koeman, Deulofeu appears to have a new lease of life – scoring against Barnsley, MK Dons and Dynamo Dresden in July – and having played alongside him two years ago for Sevilla, Reyes has been impressed with his progress.

“Deulofeu has been my teammate at Sevilla and I also know him about what he did and how he played at FC Barcelona,” he said.

“He is a quality player, fast with good dribbling and he is always seeking to leave defenders behind, which he achieves often.

“He is still young and has a long way to go in his career but he is also already experienced and is getting more and more important for his team every season.

“He is speedy and hard to control, intuitive and always searching for the weak point of his opponents. He tries always to get an advantage.

“He still has to consolidate himself in the Premier League but he is playing more and more minutes and offers not only assistance to the target men, but he is also scoring some goals on his own, which is obviously important for attacking players.”