Everton almost signed a striker in 2005 who went on to play for Real Madrid

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Everton had a striker on their 2005 transfer wishlist who ended up becoming one of the best strikers in Europe.

David Moyes tried to sign some really big hitters during his first spell at Everton, but so many of those deals just fell through at the last hurdle.

It emerged that Everton almost signed Michael Essien before he joined Chelsea, and David Beckham was also a genuine transfer target back in the day.

In more recent times, the Toffees missed out on Adam Wharton, who is now a top class Premier League midfielder.

We’ve revisited another near miss that occurred back in 2005; he actually went on to play for Real Madrid.

• READ MORE: Seamus Coleman has already given Everton his seal of approval to sign prolific striker

Everton almost signed Emmanuel Adebayor

Back in January 2005, Everton were in and around the top four, so they were a very attractive proposition at that time.

So, Moyes decided to dip into the market for a talented centre-forward, and according to the Guardian, the Scotsman was after Emmanuel Adebayor.

Adebayor was making a name for himself in France with AS Monaco, and had been prolific on the international stage with Togo.

However, ultimately, Everton failed to get the deal over the line, and he ended up joining Arsenal a year later, where he really kicked on and became one of the best centre-forwards in Europe.

Adebayor scored 62 goals in 142 games for the Gunners, earning him a move to Manchester City before a glamorous switch to Real Madrid in 2011.

Certainly, another what could’ve been signing for Everton.

Who did Everton sign instead that transfer window?

Instead of signing Adebayor, Everton shelled out around £6m on James Beattie’s signature from Southampton.

Beattie only spent a couple of years on Merseyside, netting a very underwhelming 15 goals in 86 appearances.

So that turned out to be a complete disaster and made the failed Adebayor transfer look even more painful.

However, the Toffees did recruit Mikel Arteta that window, so that, of course, proved to be a very successful signing.

Arteta went on to make over 200 appearances for the club, netting 35 goals and laying on 35 assists from midfield.