Everton were one of the sides who showed interest in Real Betis midfielder Sergi Altimira in the summer transfer window and made a bid for him.
That’s [according to ABC Sevilla](https://www.abc.es/sevilla/), who report that there was interest around the midfielder late in the window.
They say that Altimira sparked interest in the Premier League and the Bundesliga, but Betis ultimately resisted it and kept him at the club.
They blocked any move for the midfielder, who also didn’t push to depart. Several clubs did make bids for him, though.
Eintracht Frankfurt were the most serious at the end of the window, offering a loan with a purchase obligation of €20m if certain requirements were met. Betis rejected that outright.
Before then other offers had been made, including from Everton and Stuttgart, but these were rejected. The nature of their bids isn’t made clear, but they were dismissed out of hand as Betis were short in midfield at the time of their arrival.
Betis weren’t interested anyway as they believe another year in La Liga could see Altimira’s value rise further after he impressed last season.
Whether Everton will be interested again remains to be seen. They signed Kieran Dewsbury Hall and Merlin Rohl for their midfield this summer, the latter joining permanently next year if they avoid relegation, and it’s unlikely to be an area they look to invest in again for a while as a result.