Everton director of football Marcel Brands has rejected claims that his side only beat Manchester United to Yerry Mina's signature due to the huge fees paid to the defender's agent.
The Toffees were involved in a reported tug-of-war with their Premier League rivals for Mina's signature right until the final stages of the summer transfer window.
A deal was finally agreed on deadline day for the Colombia international, with an initial £28.5m being handed over to Barcelona and an undisclosed amount to uncle and representative Yair Mina.
Contrary to suggestions in the media, however, Brands insists that Mina was Everton's top defensive target and the 23-year-old only ever had eyes on Goodison Park.
"It was really simple behind the scenes. I put the offer in and Barcelona asked for a totally different amount that we would never have paid," he is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. "Then they said, 'OK, we will wait until the end of the market'. We never changed our offer.
"That was a bit of gamble because everyone was writing about Man United [wanting Mina] and Barcelona used that, agents used that, everyone used it. The player said constantly to me, 'I want to go to Everton'.
"That was a great thing for us but you never know if Manchester United come in and offer an extra £150,000 a week - every player would like that.
"Barcelona said to me, 'Man United are coming in'. I don't know if they did but I took a bit of a risk with that. That's why we were also keen on back-ups. You never know. But after the weekend before the market closed, I had a confident feeling about it."
Mina was the top-scoring defender at the World Cup, finding the net three times for Colombia in Russia - against Poland, Senegal and England.
Daniel Lewis
