‘Absolutely done,’ says 60-year-old manager, revealing he was on the verge of joining Everton in 2019.
David Moyes has stated that he nearly returned to Everton four years ago.
The West Ham boss told beIN SPORTS that his return to Goodison Park was ‘completely done’ before Carlo Ancelotti was selected instead.
During his eleven-year tenure on Merseyside at the outset of his managing career, Moyes established himself as one of Everton’s best ever managers. The Scot led the club to an FA Cup final and multiple European qualifying campaigns.
Moyes went on to manage Everton, Manchester United, Real Sociedad, Sunderland, and West Ham before being out of work for 19 months after his contract 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.
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.
However, things have looked up for Moyes, who led West Ham to the Europa Conference League title last season.
Everton fans could have been disappointed if Moyes had returned, given his terrible record since leaving Merseyside ten years ago. In reality, Moyes was on the verge of being fired by the Hammers earlier this year as they battled relegation.
There’s no way of knowing how he would have fared at Everton a second time, but he doesn’t appear to be the man to bring the good times back – even if he started them all those years ago.
