Marco Silva has revealed that Everton only agreed to sell Ademola Lookman to RB Leipzig over the summer because it made 'business sense'.
Having failed to hold down a regular spot in the starting lineup, Lookman expressed a desire to return to the German side, where he had previously enjoyed a productive loan spell.
However, while acknowledging that he held extensive talks with the young Englishman after the end of last season, Silva has revealed that he wanted to keep the winger at Goodison Park.
The Toffees boss told the Liverpool Echo: "He spoke to me at the end of the season about what he wanted to do and what was his desire. Like you know, at the beginning of last season he spoke to me about his desire to leave the club. I said no, no and no, even if we received a very good offer to sell him, for our structure, no.
"At the end of last season he came to see me in his office to tell me what he was thinking, about his desire, his future and what he would like to do. I respect his opinion but I said to him 'you are in my plans again'.
"Then came an offer to the club, and like you know I don't like to talk about this side of things, but the had just two years left on his contract with us and so then we are talking about many, many things."
Everton accepted an offer of £22.5m from RB Leizpig, which represented a significant increase to what they paid Charlton Athletic for his signature in 2017.
