Everton have come close to several deals over the years.
The Toffees memorably tried to sign Luis Diaz in a move which would have seen James Rodriguez head to Porto, and almost pulled it off before the Colombian eventually sealed a £37m move to Liverpool six months later.
Everton have also come close to signing the likes of Ismaila Sarr and Conor Gallagher in recent times, but going further back to the start of the century, former Tottenham midfielder Sean Davis has now claimed he even underwent a medical at Goodison Park before a move to Spurs materialised instead.
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Sean Davis explains just how close he came to Everton move
Speaking on the Undr The Cosh podcast, the 46-year-old said: “I regret leaving Fulham, if I’m honest. I would have loved to have been a one club man.
“Cookie (Chris Coleman) stitched me up there. He rang me. Everton wanted me at the time. I was going to go, I was moving to Everton. I had a medical and everything, but Cookie went, I can’t sell you, the fans would lynch me, you have to put in a transfer request.
“Then I failed the medical at Everton, I had to come back and played Everton six weeks later. I ended up going to Spurs and that was a nightmare.”
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Davis would have been a decent signing for the Toffees at the time.
The man from Clapham was named Player of the Season at Fulham for the 2002/03 Premier League campaign, earning a call into the England squad after that term too, but never making an appearance.
While Davis ended up having a “nightmare” at Tottenham, it worked out well for Everton.
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Around this period, Leon Osman – who adores James Garner – emerged from the youth ranks, so a move for Davis may have blocked that particular pathway into the senior side for the man who went on to become an icon at Goodison Park.
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