Everton have had some transfer near misses over the years.
Andy Robertson nearly signed for Everton before his famous move to Liverpool, while Kyle Walker almost joined Everton before heading to Tottenham Hotspur.
Now, speaking on the Royal Blue Podcast, Joe Royle has shared some insight into another transfer deal that the Toffees just missed out on.
Indeed, according to Royle, Everton missed out on an ‘outstanding’ signing under his management as Nigel Martyn nearly joined the Merseyside club under his management.
Unfortunately, Martyn headed to Leeds United instead, despite the fact he’d apparently promised to join Everton.
- READ MORE: Alan Shearer says David Moyes isn’t ‘naive enough’ to say no to one signing at Everton this summer
Nigel Martyn promised to join Everton
Royle spoke about how he almost signed Martyn for Everton to replace Neville Southall.
The manager says that Southall was coming towards the end of his career, and he wanted Martyn to replace the Everton legend.
However, at the last minute, the goalkeeper joined Leeds instead.
“That was the day Nigel Martyn was coming in to supposedly to sign for Everton. And then he ended up going to Leeds United. And you couldn’t do anything about that. But that must have been sort of a pivotal moment for you in terms of a disappointment,” Royle was asked.
“Well, it was, you know, I mean, Big Nigel was, Neville, sorry, not Nigel, Big Neville was, you know, on the way down a little bit. You know, he was losing a little bit. And Nigel Martyn would have been outstanding for us,” Royle said.
“And he promised me he was coming. And I can only think that Leeds gave him a bonus for coming to them, you know. He was coming. I’d met him and talked to him. And yeah, it never happened.”
Nigel Martyn stats for Everton
Martyn didn’t join Everton back in 1996 as he headed to Leeds United instead.
However, seven years later, Martyn would actually end up at Everton at the age of 37.
Of course, Martyn was a little bit past his best at that point, but he was still solid enough for Everton, as the stats showed.
| Nigel Martyn stats for Everton | |
|---|---|
| 100 | |
| Goals conceded | 116 |
| Clean sheets | 37 |
| Clean sheet percentage | 37% |
As Royle says, if Everton had signed Martyn in his pomp, he would’ve been an outstanding signing.
Instead, Everton bounced around a number of different goalkeeping options around that time such as Paul Gerrard and Thomas Myhre, and, ultimately, those players weren’t quite good enough to replace a legendary figure like Southall.
These days, Everton have a world-class goalkeeper once again in the shape of Jordan Pickford, but they really could’ve done with a player like Martyn coming in during the late 1990s.
