Everton manager Roberto Martinez has admitted that the club's last-gasp effort to sign Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley "wasn't right".
The Merseyside outfit made their interest known in the England international on transfer deadline day last Monday.
However, the 25-year-old ended up signing for Aston Villa on a season-long loan.
"On the last day of the window there are always opportunities that arise and we looked into a couple of those," Martinez told reporters. "I felt it was an opportunity for us to maybe to add a player that could bring something different but at the end it wasn't right."
Reports had claimed that Cleverley was open to a move to Goodison Park.