Barcelona to activate buyback clause in re-signing Everton's Gerard Deulofeu

Barcelona are set to activate their buyback clause in re-signing Gerard Deulofeu from Everton this summer.

The 23-year-old came up through the ranks of the Catalan club's famous academy, before breaking into their first team in 2011. He impressed for Barcelona's B team after scoring 18 goals in the 2012/13 season.

Deulofeu spent the next two seasons on loan at Everton and Sevilla, before joining the Merseyside club on a permanent transfer in 2015. The Spain international fell out of favour with the Toffees manager Ronald Koeman and spent the last six months on loan at AC Milan.

According to The Times, Barcelona have the option to trigger a payment of £10.5m ($13.4m) to re-sign Deulofeu from Everton. The Spanish club decided against taking up the option of signing him for £6.3m ($8m) last summer.

Luis Enrique was in charge at the Camp Nou and the Spaniard decided against triggering the buyback option. He has been replaced by Ernesto Valverde at the club and the new Barcelona manager is looking at bringing Deulofeu back to Spain.

In April, Barcelona technical secretary Robert Fernandez confirmed the club will make an attempt in re-signing Deulofeu in the summer transfer window. The player is currently on international duty with Spain, leading the national side at the European Under-21 Championship in Poland.

Following the completion of Spain Under-21's campaign in Poland, the winger is expected to complete his transfer from Everton to his former club. A move back to Barcelona will see Deulofeu fighting with Luis Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi for a place in the starting lineup.

According to Goal.com, Valverde is likely to move Messi into the midfield and that is likely to allow Deulofeu to take the place on the right side of the front three. Should this happen, the Spain international is likely to see an improved playing time on his return to Barcelona.

The Premier League star scored four goals and registered three assists in 17 Serie A appearances for Milan in the second half of the last season. In the 2015/16 campaign, Deulofeu scored four goals and had 11 assists to his name across all competitions.