Everton wanted to sign Eric Dier but were priced out of a move for the defender, the club's former coach Alan Stubbs has told the Liverpool Echo.
Dier spent 18 months on loan at Goodison Park as a teenager from January 2011, helping the club win the under-18 league title before working under Stubbs for the under-21s.
He returned to parent club Sporting Lisbon at the end of the 2012-13 season but Everton wanted to sign him permanently, only to back out of a deal when the Portuguese club raised the asking price above £1 million.