Sam Allardyce took charge at Everton in November 2017 and helped them finish in the eighth position last season.
The former England manager had the January 2018 transfer window as the only one during his time at Goodison Park, and in that period, the Merseyside club had identified Espanyol’s Mario Hermoso as a target.
Spanish newspaper AS claims the Premier League club ‘already wanted’ the defender in the winter market, while he was also attracting interest from Zenit St. Petersburg, six months after joining the La Liga outfit from Real Madrid.
Jordi Lardín was the then sporting director at the Catalan club and he inserted a €40m release clause in the defender’s contract. Everton and the Russian outfit were referred to the player’s asking price by Espanyol, which was the reason for the two to decide against making an approach for him. 
AS mentioned these details in the report, while talking about Real Madrid’s interest in re-signing Hermoso, and the Champions League winners can land him for €15m because of the buyback clause.
