The agent of Donny van de Beek has revealed that he was in talks with Everton in regards to a move during the transfer window, but a switch was vetoed by Manchester United.

The Lowdown: Business done on final day

On the final day of the transfer window, the Toffees completed the signing of Salomon Rondon from Dalian Professional.

However, it seems that they also were interested in capturing the services of the £27m-valued Netherlands international (Transfermarkt) from the Red Devils.

The Latest: Van de Beek speaks to Toffees

Speaking to Ziggo Sport (via The Daily Express), Van de Beek's representative Guido Albers revealed talks with the Merseyside club. He said:

"We took the initiative to find a club and our search ended up at Everton. We opened talks with Marcel Brands and Farhad Moshiri.

"On Monday night [before deadline day] we received a call from Solskjær and the club who told us that a transfer was out of the question and that he had to report himself to training the next morning.

"The perspective now is that we stated that Donny is not a Carabao Cup player, or FA Cup player, or to play only in European games."

The Verdict: Crying shame

Although he made the move to Old Trafford from Ajax in September 2020 for a fee of £35m (BBC), Van de Beek has had to make do with a bit-part role at the club. He managed just 36 appearances in all competitions last season, the majority of which came from the bench, and he has yet to feature for a single minute in the current campaign (Transfermarkt).

He has often impressed whenever he has featured, though, with Owen Hargreaves calling him "close to perfect" after a match in the Champions League against Istanbul Basaksehir last autumn.

At Everton, you would have thought he would be close to a guaranteed starter under Rafael Benitez. While Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may eventually be ready to incorporate the midfielder into his plans, it feels like a transfer would have been the 24-year-old's best chances of playing regularly, and he would have brought plenty of quality to Goodison Park judging by Hargreaves' glowing praise.

In other news, Everton also wanted to sign this England international during the transfer window.