Phil Jagielka says Gerard Deulofeu's return to Everton is a great acknowledgement of the club's status.

Deulofeu was signed permanently from Barcelona this week.

Jagielka told evertonfc.com: "He did really well for us in his spell on loan and looked like he was going to kick on and get a chance at Barcelona. Obviously that didn't really happen but he's a fantastic player, he's got so much ability and he's a really good character, a really funny lad to have around the changing room.

"He didn't speak the most English when he came but tried his best and it's nice for the manager to be able to go out there and attract these players to want to come back.

"It's a nice little pat on the back for us as players and staff that the environment we put him in last time he was desperate to come back to.

"We'll welcome him with open arms and it's good to see that the deal is done pretty early on in the summer and we can get a good pre-season out of him."