Former Everton boss David Moyes could’ve signed Kostas Manolas for £1 million in 2012.
One-time Everton target Kostas Manolas cried tears of happiness after scoring the 82nd-minute goal which sent Roma into the semi-finals of the Champions League at the expense of Barcelona on Tuesday.
The Greece centre-back was serenaded by home fans inside the Stadio Olimpico with a rendition of ‘Grazie Roma’ which proved too much for the 26-year-old to handle emotionally.
The hero Kostas Manolas in tears after the match during the singing of “Grazie Roma”. pic.twitter.com/yiUseGAOfW
— RomaPress (@ASRomaPress) April 10, 2018
Whereever David Moyes was when he heard of what happened in the Italian capital, you could forgive the former Everton boss if he shed tears for an entirely different reason.
Back in 2012, Moyes met with Manolas’s representatives in a bid to bring the then-AEK Athens defender to Goodison Park, with The Telegraph reporting the fee to be £1 million.
Considering he joined Olympiacos on a free transfer 12 months later, you could suggest that the then-Toffees manager did not push hard enough to sign him and it now looks a massive mistake.
Six years on and not only is Manolas a Champions League semi-finalist, but CIES Football Observatory estimate him to be worth somewhere in the region of £33.6 million.
Even more bizarre is the report from The Telegraph that the Scottish manager – now in charge of West Ham United – only wanted him after failing to land Nedum Onouha, who joined QPR.
Plenty of managers have that superstar who they ‘nearly’ signed and later regretted it, but for Moyes there is a very strong chance that Manolas is his.
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