In February, the Spanish media put out at least two separate reports about Everton trying to sign Espanyol players during the January 2018 winter transfer window.
The first was left back Aaron Martin, with it being claimed the Toffees made a €20m offer, but Espanyol knocked it back believing they could get more in the summer.
Then came the Mario Hermoso story.
Everton were said to be willing to spend €8-10m to sign the player during the winter market.
Catalan newspaper Sport claimed the Premier League club had been told they’d have to spend €15m or more, partly because Espanyol would need to pay 50% to Real Madrid, the central defender’s former club.
Everton didn’t do that, and the chance was gone.
In the summer the club signed Lucas Digne and Yerry Mina, getting a left-back/central defender combination from Espanyol’s local rivals Barcelona.
Now Hermoso has been called up by Spain and is attracting interest.
Sport cover it again on Tuesday and they’re insistent Everton did ask for the player, but this time say it was during the summer market.
There’s no clarity on whether that means the club made two attempts in consecutive windows.
Now the asking price is the player’s €40m buyout clause, and Real Madrid can get him for half of that thanks to their good use of sell-on clauses.
The 23 year old is also interesting others, including Bayern Munich, but the Everton opportunity may have passed.
