Everton manager Marco Silva has pointed to transfer fees spiralling out of control as the reason the Toffees missed out on a number of their transfer targets this summer.
With Kurt Zouma returning to Chelsea following his successful loan spell with the Toffees last season and veteran defender Phil Jagielka moving back to Sheffield United, Everton were seeking a centre-back throughout the window. They were unable to bring in a suitable replacement though, whilst they also failed in their attempt to sign Wilfried Zaha from Crystal Palace.
When reflecting on Everton's transfer window, Silva admitted that he had been hampered by other clubs demanding excessive amounts of money in order to allow their players to leave.
Quoted by The Mirror after his pre-match press conference, Silva said: "It is really tough now to buy a player – everyone is asking millions and millions and millions."
Despite not attracting all the players that they wanted, Everton still bought seven players this summer, including the deadline day arrival of Alex Iwobi
"I don’t like to speak about those numbers but I know people will say again Everton spent this and this. But in the end, if you put the balance [of players leaving], we spent £28m.
Source : 90min