David Moyes has claimed he almost rejoined Everton four years ago.
Speaking to beIN SPORTS, the West Ham manager revealed that has return to Goodison Park was ‘absolutely done’ before Carlo Ancelotti was appointed instead.
Moyes became one of Everton’s best ever managers during his eleven year stint on Merseyside at the start of his managerial career. The Scot led the club to an FA Cup final and achieved European qualification on several occasions.
Moyes went onto take charge of Everton, Manchester United, Real Sociedad, Sunderland and West Ham before he found himself unemployed for 19 months after his deal with the Irons expired.
The 60-year-old eventually returned to West Ham and has remained there for the past four years, however he has now revealed that he could have joined Everton instead.
“When I was getting offered the West Ham job, I had actually been in Germany with Moshiri to take the Everton job,” Moyes told beIN SPORTS.
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When asked how close he was to joining the Toffees, he said: “It was absolutely done. In the meeting, my phone rang and it was David Sullivan and I had to say I can’t speak to you right now.
“Carlo Ancelotti got sacked that night and they changed track to Carlo Ancelotti. So David Sullivan called me and asked if I was coming back to West Ham and I said definitely. It couldn’t have gone better for me and it was the right choice.”
Should Everton have brought David Moyes back?
Ancelotti went onto spend 18 months at Goodison Park before returning to Real Madrid, while Everton have since struggled in consecutive relegation scraps with three different managers.
Things have looked more positive for Moyes however, with the former boss leading West Ham to Europa Conference League glory last season.
Everton fans might have been unhappy if the club had brought Moyes back, given his poor record since leaving Merseyside ten years ago. In fact, Moyes was on the verge of being sacked by the Hammers as they fought relegation earlier this year.
There’s no way to know how he would have performed at Everton the second time round, but it seems unlikely that he would have been the man to bring the good times back – even if he started them all those years ago.