Klaassen no nearer Everton return

Sam Allardyce has confirmed Davy Klaassen isn’t any closer to forcing himself back into the first-team picture just yet.

The Dutch international arrived from Ajax for a fee rumoured to be around the £24 million-mark last summer but hasn’t been able to nail down a place in Everton’s side.

The former captain of Ajax hasn’t made a Premier League appearance since late September, hasn’t featured in a league matchday squad since October and his last bit of action came in December’s 3-0 dead rubber win against Apollon Limassol in the Europa League.

A January escape to Napoli fell through late on, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier for Klaassen, Allardyce said: “At the moment Davy Klaassen comes in and trains as best as he possibly can and does all what he can on a regular basis.

“He’s not a sulker, he tries his hardest every time he comes into training.

“But at the moment we see what we see, and we see the qualities of the players and haven’t quite seen that in Davy to encourage us to put him in.

“He’s got big competition and that big competition is something you have to accept and try and improve so if you do get the chance then you take that opportunity.

“Maybe somewhere down the line we will give him an opportunity.”