In a bid to keep hold of Ademola Lookman, Marco Silva has labelled the youngster as the "present and the future of Everton." 

 Lookman has been a subject of transfer target of German side RB Leipzig, who are interested in signing him on a permanent basis after a successful loan stint last term.

The 20 years old spent the second half of the outing campaign with Bundesliga club, where he hit the net five times in 11 appearances.

However, Leipzig have already had two bids to sign the England U21 star permanently rejected by the Merseyside outfit.

Although, Lookman is yet to play for the Toffees this season after two rounds of matches, but Silva maintains he has a significant role to play in the team.

"He is our player. You know what my technical opinion of the player is and the player knows. For me it is not an issue," said Silva.

"I understand some clubs are interested in him but at the end I told you last week, I told you two weeks ago, (in) my opinion he is the present and the future of the club and we have to try to convince him to go in this way as well."

He joined Everton in January 2017 from Charlton Athletic and made the headlines on his debut when he scored in the 4-0 defeat of Manchester City in a league game.

He became a world cup winner after inspiring England under-20 national side to winning the 2017 FIFA U20 World Cup in South Korea, scoring three goals in the finals.