Everton midfielder Andre Gomes has admitted there was only one club he wanted to sign for this summer and that was the Toffees despite West Ham's best efforts to lure him to London.
Manuel Pellegrini was keen to see the Portuguese star in claret and blue this summer and offered Barcelona £20m for his signature, having seen an initial £18m bid knocked back by the Catalan giants.
But it wasn't to be as Gomes plumped for Everton, the team who he spent last season on loan with and excelled, as his permanent new home and they sealed a deal last month for the midfielder.
Speaking at his second unveiling at Goodison Park as an Everton player, Gomes revealed West Ham were never likely to seal his signature all the while Marco Silva wanted to bring him back to Merseyside and that was always the case, despite it taking a bit longer than expected.
Gomes said: "I wasn't wondering abut the situation, I didn't know all the things that was around me with offers and that kind of thing.
"I just talked with my brother, my best friend, my agent and I told him I would prefer to stay here if Everton want me.
"This was my first option."
Pellegrini and director of football Mario Husillos swiftly switched their attention elsewhere and eventually plumped for Pablo Fornals, with the Villarreal midfielder signing for West Ham for £25m last month on a five-year contract.
The duo also chased Celta Vigo midfielder Stanislav Lobotka but deemed him to be too expensive for the kind of player they wanted so they went with the Spain U21 international Fornals instead.
He is likely to join up with his new teammates for their Premier League Asia Trophy jaunt around China later this month having helped Spain to win the Euro U21 Championships in Italy last month.
