The Portugal international suffered a fracture dislocation of his ankle but has made such rapid progress there there are plans in place for him to feature in a friendly to test his fitness ahead of the Toffees' return to action after the mid-season break.

"We are going to organise a friendly game for us when we come back from the holidays and everything is OK with him," said manager Carlo Ancelotti.

The Toffees boss also hopes to have fellow midfielder Jean-Philippe Gbamin back before the end of the season after his second operation on a thigh problem which has sidelined him since August.

"The surgery went well and now he is doing individual treatment," added Ancelotti.

"He needs weeks but with him we have to go slowly because the injury was big. Step-by-step we will see but we hope to have him (back) before the end of the season."

Australian Associated Press