David Moyes worked with Norwich City-owned Heart of Midlothian star Steven Naismith at Everton.
Naismith is on loan at Hearts in the Scottish Premiership from Norwich in the Championship in England.
The 32-year-old, who can operate as an attacking midfielder or as a forward, was on the books of Everton from 2012 until 2016.
The Scotland international moved to Norwich from Everton in January 2016 for a transfer fee reported by BBC Sport to be worth £8.5 million.
Moyes was the manager of Everton from 2002 until 2013 and was in charge of Sunderland during the 2016-17 campaign.
“Naisy is a brilliant pro and I think he was a bit unlucky at times during his career,” Moyes told The Herald.
“I signed him at Everton and there were a couple of occasions after I moved when I might have taken him again, but for different reasons it wasn’t able to happen.
“I nearly got him to Sunderland when he was at Norwich but for him it was probably good that it didn’t happen that way.”
Going down twice
It was at the end of the 2016-17 season that Sunderland got relegated from the Premier League.
At the end of the 2017-18 campaign, the Black Cats went down from the Championship, and they are now aiming to win automatic promotion from League One.
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