Joshua Zirkzee explains how close he came to signing for Everton

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Bayern Munich starlet Joshua Zirkzee has been speaking about his time at Everton, and revealed how close he actually came to signing for the Toffees.

The 18-year-old Dutchman had a trial with the Goodison Park outfit in 2017 after impressing in the Feyenoord youth system.

He was brought for observation during Ronald Koeman’s time at the helm, and even participated in a youth tournament for the club.

In mid-2017, Zirkzee officially left Feyenoord to join Bayern despite his brief stint with Everton, and now the teenager has lifted the lid on how close he came to signing for the Toffees permanently.

He told Voetbal International: “Everton was a serious option for me.

“Ronald Koeman was the first-team coach at the time, and I didn’t have a lot of strikers in front of me at the time.

“Romelu Lukaku left for Manchester United that summer and I got the feeling from Everton that there was a good chance I could move on there.

“When I was there, they immediately offered me a contract.”

At the start of the season, Zirkzee did state that ‘Bayern’s plan for me sounded very good’ (Panna! magazine, quoted by Bundelisliga.com).

6ft 4in Zirkzee – who has been likened to 350-goal Dutch legend Pierre van Hooijdonk (Bundesliga.com) – is now one of Bayern’s most exciting prospects and was given his first-team debut as a substitute against Freiburg in December.

The striker scored, and then bagged again in another cameo against Wolfsburg in the next game.

TBR’s view – The one that got away?

Zirkzee has made a very promising start at Bayern and two goals in just eight minutes of pitch time is impressive.

It’s extremely early days, but there’s potential that Zirkzee’s snub for Everton might just come back to haunt them.