£27m Premier League star says he was so close to signing for Everton, he even did a medical

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Everton have missed out on some very talented players over the years.

Indeed, the Toffees have tried, and failed, to sign some top players in recent times.

Kyle Walker nearly joined Everton at one point, Andy Robertson could’ve signed for Everton at one stage, while Aaron Ramsey almost became a Toffee.

Now, another Premier League star has been discussing just how close he was to signing for Everton.

Indeed, speaking to Podpah, Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes has claimed that he very nearly became an Everton player, noting that he even had a medical with the Merseyside club at one point.

• READ MORE: Viktor Gyokeres posts cryptic message on Instagram after Arsenal made their first bid to sign him

Gabriel Magalhaes almost joined Everton

Gabriel spoke about how close he was to signing for Everton.

According to the defender, Everton were in for him before Arsenal, and a deal was almost totally agreed.

However, due to the pandemic back in 2020, the deal was prolonged and that gave Arsenal the chance to hijack the deal for £27m.

“I went to Arsenal it was right in the year of Covid, 2020. A little before that my agent said ‘oh you have an offer from Everton.’ But the guys had already made an agreement, Everton and Lille had agreed everything in the January window,” Gabriel said.

“But I wasn’t going in the January window, I was only going in the middle of the year, in June.

“Then I got suspended for a Lille game, and the Director from Lille said ‘you’re going to go there and you’re going to have a medical and everything’.

“I said ‘Ok, everything was already sorted,’ Man, it was still Ancelotti right, he came to me (at Brazil) and said ‘do you remember me?’ He said ‘This time you’re not going to run because last time you refused and here you can’t say yes or no.”

“I went to Everton did a medical exam, crazy bro, I got there, they prepared a whole thing for me, a reception in the hotel. Gabriel, number four in the hotel room the shirt on the bed.

“I did a medical exam, Ancelotti wasn’t there, it was his son, his assistant, he started showing me videos saying how they wanted me.

“I went back to Lille and then Covid started, the league in France stopped and then I went to Brazil and I was on vacation. In the end I came back and the Director said you have an offer from Napoli, not Arsenal, only Napoli.

“I thought everything was sorted with Everton. But Gattuso called me, the coach of Napoli, Ancelotti called me in the afternoon, what is going to happen? Feeling like Alex Hunter on FIFA, then at the last minute Edu Gaspar called me, the Director from Arsenal,”

Gabriel Magalhaes’ record vs Everton

It’s hard to blame Gabriel for picking Arsenal over Everton. After all, he’s now a Champions League regular competing for Premier League titles.

However, interestingly, Arsenal don’t have a great record against Everton since Gabriel signed for the club.

Arsenal have won just as often as they’ve lost against Everton since Gabriel arrived.

The Brazilian has actually scored against Everton before, netting on the final day of the 2021/22 season in a 5-1 win.

Since then, the centre-back has gone from strength to strength.

Gabriel has earned huge praise this season and he’s just signed a new bumper deal that will keep him at Arsenal for the foreseeable future.