West Ham United have signed Everton-linked Patrice Evra this week.
Everton boss Sam Allardyce has told the Liverpool Echo that he wasn’t interested in landing new West Ham United signing Patrice Evra.
The Toffees ended the transfer window with three signings through the door, as Eliaquim Mangala arrived on deadline day to join Cenk Tosun and Theo Walcott.
Allardyce will be pleased to have boosted his options, but he still didn’t manage to bring in a player to solve his biggest problem position; left back.
Leighton Baines has missed much of the season through injury, and with the ex-England international ageing, finding his eventual successor has to be a priority, especially with Luke Garbutt nowhere near the first team and Brendan Galloway struggling out on loan.
Cuco Martina has filled in so far, but many expected Everton to bring in a natural left back in January, but the deadline passed without the Toffees managing to bring in a left back.
The transfer window may be closed, but that hasn’t stopped speculation surrounding the Toffees, with Sky Sports claiming that Everton wanted to sign Patrice Evra before his move to West Ham United on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old Frenchman has penned a deal with West Ham until the end of the season having been released by Marseille in November, but it seems that Everton weren’t quite as interested as first claimed.
Manager Allardyce has now told the Liverpool Echo that Everton weren’t pursuing a deal for Evra as he is of similar experience to Baines, who is coming back soon – but Allardyce added his surprise that Everton weren’t able to sign a left back in January.
“No, as we have Leighton Baines coming back very shortly,” said Allardyce. “Leighton has similar experience to Patrice, although Patrice is a little bit older. I didn’t think that would be necessary at this stage of the season. We tried to sign a left-back throughout the whole of January but were unable to do so,” he added.
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