Former Everton manager Sam Allardyce has claimed that he tried to buy prolific Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang during his time with the Blues.
Aubameyang scored twice as Arsenal beat Carlo Ancelotti's side 3-2 at The Emirates yesterday, taking his Premier League tally to 17 this season.
Speaking to host Alan Brazil on TalkSport's The Sports Breakfast, Allardyce said that he looked to the Gabon international, who was then at Borussia Dortmund, to bolster his attacking options.
He said: “I tried to buy him [Aubameyang] at Everton.
“It was about 60 or 70 million, I think, but I don't think we could go that far at the time, but we were searching for goals since [Romelu] Lukaku went.”
After scoring 98 goals in 144 Bundesliga games for Dortmund, Aubameyang became one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe, but Allardyce admitted that the apparent interest did not get as far as he would have hoped.
“We only spoke through his agent," he said.
“He was that desperate to get away from Germany and get into the Premier League, but we didn't get very far to be fair.”
Instead, Aubameyang joined Arsène Wenger's Arsenal for a reported £56million, a then club record fee.
The one-time African Footballer of the year made an instant impact, scoring the fourth goal on his debut - a 5-1 rout over Allardyce's Everton.
Since then, Aubamayeng has become one of the Premier League's top strikers, and is joint top scorer this term.
Instead, Everton made two purchases that January transfer window, signing Turkish striker Cenk Tosun for £27million and Theo Walcott in a £20million deal.
Allardyce was relieved of his duties as Everton manager in May 2018, having led the Blues in 26 games, coming out with 10 wins.
The fans didn't take to the one-time England boss' management and during his tenure Everton were ranked 20th for shots, 19th for shots on target, and 16th for passing accuracy in the Premier League.
