Marco Silva has hailed the leadership qualities beyond his tender years that Tom Davies possesses after the home-grown hero signed a new four-year contract with Everton this week.
The Academy graduate, who has been with the Blues since he was 11, penned a deal that will keep him at the club until June 2023.
Silva said: “He's still just 20 years old. He had a fantastic impact in his first season in the first team.
“Of course we're happy with him even if for the last three or four months we didn't see him often in our starting XI.
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“It doesn't mean for us that we are not happy with him. Renewing his contract shows that we are happy with him.
“He is working every day to help the team and achieve what he wants which is to be a regular in our starting XI.”
Silva made Davies Everton's youngest-ever captain when he handed him the armband for the Carabao Cup tie against Rotherham United back in August and he also went on to skipper the side on five further occasions in the Premier League.
He revealed that one of the driving forces behind the decision was made because of the midfielder's long-standing connection with his home city club.
Silva said: “Tom is a very good football player, an important player and a good example to everyone, our young players also coming from the academy. Tom is everything.
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“To start some games as captain was a fantastic feeling for him and good pressure on his shoulders also.
“He showed the capacity to handle this pressure which is really important to us and will be more important in the future – I have no doubts about that because he has the quality to do that.”
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The Blues boss added: “Some of captains this season, in some moments they didn't start and I took that decision with Tom because of the number of years he's had in our club, and he knows everything about our club even if he's a young boy.
“He's a very good professional, he loves the club and feels the club also in a very good way and for me that's very important.”
