EVERTON DIRECTOR OF football Marcel Brands has denied reports that inflated agent fees, which proved prohibitive to Manchester United, were involved in the transfer of Yerry Mina from Barcelona to Goodison Park.
The Toffees completed the €32 million (£29m) signing of Mina following the end of the World Cup, during which the defender impressed for Colombia.
Reports since the transfer have claimed that United baulked at demands from the player’s representative, as they failed to secure a central defender during a summer marred by inactivity.
Indeed, deals for Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld, Leicester City’s Harry Maguire and Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng also failed to materialise, with Jose Mourinho reportedly disappointed that no such player was acquired.
Brands insists that there were no exorbitant demands involved in the transfer, with Everton only ever tabling one bid to Barcelona, which they initially stalled on accepting.
“No, no, it was really simple behind the scenes,” he said, per the Daily Telegraph, when asked if he was ever deterred.
“I put the offer in and Barcelona asked for a totally different amount that we would never have paid. Then they said: ‘Ok, we will wait until the end of the market.’ We never changed our offer.
“That was a bit of a gamble because everyone was writing about Man United [potentially tabling an offer] and Barcelona used that, agents used that, everyone used it. I don’t know exactly if Man United were in. The player said constantly to me: ‘I want to go to Everton.’
That was a great thing for us but you never know if Man United comes in and offers an extra £150,000 a week – every player would like to do that. I don’t know exactly the situation with Man United, but of course Barcelona used it.
“They said to me: ‘Man United are coming in.’ I don’t know if they did but I took a bit of a risk with that. That’s why we were also keen on back-ups, you never know, but after the weekend before the market closed I had a confident feeling about it.”
Everton drew 2-2 with newly-promoted Wolves in their opening Premier League game, with Phil Jagielka controversially sent off, meaning Mina may be forced to make his debut earlier than initially anticipated.
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More United excuses being exposed.
@Steve McGee: More like the media created false Man Utd reports in order to sell some papers.
Fair play to Everton for not biting the hook and pretending they won some moral victory over Mina’s transfer.
@Steve McGee: According to the club and quoted by Sky Sports yesterday they were never interested in Mina as they didn’t see him as any better then what they had already. Apparently Alderweireld was never a option either as he’s nearly 30 , only Maguire was considered as a realistic target hence the bids. The board did sanction £100m bid for Varane if Real were willing to sell but they weren’t.
@Johnny Bravo: Bang on correct, Alderwerield also was apparently more suited to a 3 man defence. Jerome Boateng was another one mentioned but he’s 30 and seen to have a poor injury record and again no better than what is already on the books.
@Johnny Bravo: you’ll have to tell all of the journalists who your inside source is, cause you seem to know more than anyone else.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/aug/09/manchester-united-veto-jose-mourinho-wishlist-cash-fears
@Con Al: Spurs only played with a three man defence for the first time last year. Best defender in England the two years previous.
At least proof read your own comments before talking utter nonsense
Is he actually any good really if Barca rid of him after half a season? Anyone can look good in a world cup, ask El Hadji Diouf
@Darragh O Leary: or Gary Breen
Surprised at Utd if players representatives fees were an issue for them. How much was it again that they supposedly paid Pogba’s agent?
Juventus paid all the agent fees in the pogba transfer