Everton: Andreas Pereira tells Rio Ferdinand why he snubbed Goodison transfer from Man United
Andreas Pereira has revealed that he was “very close” to signing for Everton in 2021 from Manchester United.
Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s Vibe with Five podcast on Tuesday (16 April), the 28-year-old, who now plays for Fulham, admitted that his father called him as he was closing in on a move to the Toffees to try and persuade him to join a Brazilian club.
The Brazilian international revealed that the president of Flamengo jokingly called his father about him signing for the Rio de Janeiro-based side before the attacking midfielder then decided to make the move to the South American team on loan.
“I wanted to play after COVID, I was going crazy,” said Pereira. “I was like ‘I want to play in the Premier League’, I wanted to show I’m good enough.
“I was very close to joining Everton. And, suddenly, my father called me and said ‘Andreas, you’ve never played in Brazil and you’re Brazilian. I was like ‘Yeah, but where do we go then?’
“The president of Flamengo jokingly called my dad and said ‘If he wants to come, let him come’. And I was like ‘Yeah, let’s go to Flamengo. Everyone said ‘No, you’re crazy, you will never come back to Europe.”
Andreas Pereria would have added quality to Everton side
It’s a shame Everton weren’t able to get a deal over the line for Pereira three years ago because he would have added quality to their side.
It sounds as though he was all set to join the Toffees before his dad intervened and insisted he returned to Brazil, with Flamengo winning the race to sign him.
After a fruitful spell in Rio de Janeiro, the attacking midfielder then returned to Man United before Fulham agreed a deal for him and he hasn’t looked back since then.
He’s put in a number of excellent performances for the Cottagers over the past couple of seasons, earning him a recall to the Brazil squad this year.
The Blues could really do with a creative player like Pereira in their side right now as they are currently struggling in front of goal in their bid to secure their Premier League status.
In other Everton news, Pat Nevin has raged over a Toffees development as he shared a “ludicrous” Premier League admission.
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