Ronald Koeman insists he has ‘no reason’ to displace Joel Robles as Everton’s first-choice goalkeeper.
Maarten Stekelenburg last featured for the Blues in December’s Merseyside derby defeat to Liverpool, when he sustained an injury midway during the game.
His absence coincided with Everton’s recent upturn in fortunes with Robles helping Koeman’s side to just a solitary defeat from six games in all competitions.
And the Everton manager insists that he is happy to continue with the former Atletico Madrid stopper as he heads into Wednesday’s trip to Stoke City.
He said: “It’s not fair to speak about who’s the no.1 and who’s the no.2.
“But of course Joel is doing well. There’s no reason at the moment to change that.
“He really gave that [level of] competition after a disappointing period from the summer because, in that situation, Maarten was the goalkeeper who played from the beginning.
“He is improving. He gave Maarten that competition and, okay, sometimes you need to be lucky in sports.
“Maarten got an injury and he did really well [in his absence#. The team was good. We had some clean sheets and most of the games we won.
“It’s difficult nad hard to take for Maarten but that’s football, that’s business.
“Sometimes you have to wait for your opportunity to come back but that means Joel is playing on Wednesday.”