'Turned down Everton approaches' - Fabrizio Romano says Lampard wanted 3rd deadline day signing

Everton made an unsuccessful attempt to sign Luka Jovic on transfer deadline day, Fabrizio Romano has revealed. 

It was a largely positive deadline day for the Toffees as they announced the appointment of Frank Lampard as their new manager before sealing the signings of Donny van de Beek from Manchester United (on loan) and Dele Alli from Tottenham.

They finished January with five new additions, having recruited Vitaliy Mykolenko, Nathan Patterson and Anwar El-Ghazi earlier in the month. Only Watford brought in more fresh faces among Premier League clubs in January, and only Newcastle United and Liverpool spent more money (via Transfermarkt).

At 9:30pm on Monday night, Romano took to Twitter to claim that Everton had made a last-gasp bid to try and sign Luka Jovic from Real Madrid, but their advances were flatly rejected.

The journalist tweeted: “Real Madrid have turned down Everton approaches for Luka Jović today. No chance.”

Was it a big blow to miss out on Jovic?

Everton have only scored 24 goals in their first 20 Premier League matches, but that disappointing return can largely be put down to the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The Toffees’ top scorer from last season has only been fit enough to start six league games so far this term, which clearly has negated the team’s attacking threat.

Jovic, who has 57 senior career goals at the age of 24, may have been regarded as a more effective backup than Salomon Rondon, who has only netted once in 708 minutes of top-flight football in 2021/22, but the Serbian may not have accepted being a substitute at Goodison Park.

Perhaps the £18m-rated forward, who earns £152,000 per week in the Spanish capital, will be on Everton’s radar if Calvert-Lewin is lured to Arsenal, having