Former Everton star Aaron Lennon has revealed how the club's previous owner Farhad Moshiri sensationally rejected the chance to sign Erling Haaland when the player was available for just £2million.
Haaland has been one of the Premier League's standouts since joining Man City from Borussia Dortmund for €51 million two years ago and has been instrumental in achieving unprecedented success.
The Norwegian's stunning goalscoring form has led City to successive English league titles, the FA Cup, Champions League and Club World Cup, while Haaland has also won a host of individual honours.
Meanwhile, Everton continuously battled relegation during the same period under former owner Moshiri, who was bought by The Friedkin Group on Thursday.
Moshiri spent a whopping £671 million on signings during his eight-year spell as owner, but many of those players failed to do so and Lennon has now revealed how Haaland could have been signed as a youngster.
Lennon joined the Toffees during the latter stages of his playing career, going on to make 77 appearances for the club and could have starred alongside Haaland in what would have been a cheap deal for Everton at the time.
The now-retired star explained that Haaland was given a tour of the club as a teenager and came face to face with the prolific goalscorer during a brief conversation.
“I remember Erling Haaland walking through the building with Steve Walsh and coming up to me in the physio room. Steve introduced him to me saying, 'oh look, we have Haaland, do you know his dad Alfie? The boy from Leeds. Hopefully we can 'We'll have him here,'” Lennon told the BBC's Football Daily show.
“I thought, oh wow, I haven't heard much from him, I think he was 15 or 16 years old and never saw him again, and I think they could have had him for two or three million.
“I don't think Moshiri signed for that and can you imagine Haaland would have signed for Everton,” he added.
Everton have since seen investments in several forwards fail, with the likes of Cenk Tosun, Ademola Lookman, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin all struggling.
Haaland eventually ended up at boyhood club Molde before later joining RB Salzburg and then Borussia Dortmund, where he immediately caught the attention of the world's biggest clubs.
City eventually made the move for the 24-year-old and saw Haaland develop into one of the best in the world by scoring 108 goals in just 121 games.
However, Haaland is currently experiencing his worst spell in England amid the torrid struggle at City, which has seen Pep Guardiola's side lose eight of their last 12 games.
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