Ian Wright and Paul Merson disagree over how Marco Silva should react to Everton bid

Pundits Paul Merson and Ian Wright have told Sky Sports' The Debate of how they disagree over what Watford manager Marco Silva should do regarding a move to Everton.

Silva, 40, was the surprise choice to take the Hull City job back in January of this year, and whilst the Tigers suffered relegation, Silva impressed enough to earn an instant return to the Premier League.

Watford snapped up Silva as a replacement for Walter Mazzarri, and their decision to bring in the Portuguese boss has been justified so far.

Watford lie eighth in the Premier League table with five wins from 12 games, and their exciting brand of football – spearheaded by Brazilian talent Richarlison – has seen Silva earn both plaudits and admiring glances.

Everton – who sacked manager Ronald Koeman last month – are looking for a new boss, and they failed with an approach for Silva last week, with Watford standing firm.

The Toffees may still hope to land the former Sporting Lisbon boss, but Silva has remained coy on the situation, and oversaw a 2-0 win for Watford over West Ham United on Sunday afternoon.

Having endured a nomadic managerial career with Sporting, Olympiakos, Hull and Watford in recent years, many believe that Silva should settle down and stay with Watford, despite the riches on offer at Everton.

Now, pundit Paul Merson has told Sky Sports' The Debate that he thinks Silva should leave, as a job like Everton won't come up very often, and he should head to Goodison Park to take advantage of Farhad Moshiri's riches.

However, fellow pundit Ian Wright countered by suggesting that Silva should stay and grow over the next 18 months, hinting that he could even land a bigger job than Everton if he continues to impress.

“If I was him, I would go,” said Merson. “Everton is a massive, big big club with good players, and they've got money, and they're going somewhere. Watford, every year they change their manager. I don't think he needs to be loyal, in my opinion. He might feel he needs to be loyal, because he was with a team that got relegated, and he got a Premier League club again, and he might be one of them blokes that thinks 'I' gonna be loyal', but these jobs don't come along all the time, and Everton is a top job in my opinion.”

“I'd stay! I'd stay because a job like Everton, you will get another job [like that]. He took a club down, and we saw the change in Hull – they still went down – and he still got a good job. I think that Watford are playing the kind of football where you can play there for another year to 18 months, and see where you are. I don't think he should be in too much of a rush, and I personally think that if he stays at Watford for another 18 months, they'll do well, and he might get an even bigger job!” added Wright.