Did Everton get lucky escape avoiding Las Palmas’ £18m Mauricio Lemos?

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Mauricio Lemos could have joined Premier League giants Everton for big money in the summer but is now swapping La Liga for Serie A.

There was a time when Everton and Barcelona were both courting Mauricio Lemos.

The swashbuckling Uruguayan defender, who shares more than just a haircut with David Luiz, was seen as one of the most highly-rated centre-backs on the continent as recently as the summer of 2017.

Barcelona reportedly saw the ball-playing Lemos as a future linchpin of their back line while, according to the Telegraph, Everton’s scouts had been very impressed by what they saw in La Liga last season.

At the time, Lemos was rated at £18 million and the Toffees appeared to be genuinely considering paying such a fee.

Half a year later, however, and they may be glad they didn’t. Lemos has endured a quite dramatic fall from grace in the first half of 2017/18, resulting in a January exit to Serie A side Sassuolo.

Lemos was no longer a regular starter for Las Palmas with the Canary Island club mired in the relegation zone in Spain’s top flight and was even subject to some rather vitriolic, if not wholly unjustified, boos from his own supporters of late.

It was rather fitting that, in his last game for the club, Lemos was hooked at half-time before Las Palmas went on to seal a shock win against high-flying Valencia.

Now, the 22-year-old will spend the rest of the season with Sassuolo, who have paid £1 million to sign him on loan with the option to turn the deal permanent in the summer, according to Marca.

The fee has not yet been disclosed, but you can guarantee it will be a whole lot less than £18 million.