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Everton winger Yannick Bolasie almost missed out on his loan move to Anderlecht twice on a frantic transfer deadline day with his move sealed in dramatic fashion with less than a minute to go.

The Blues were left wondering what to do with the 29-year-old when he surprisingly took the decision to cut short his season-long loan at Aston Villa – before telling Marco Silva.

Despite costing Everton a hefty reported £25million fee back in 2016, the DR Congo international suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in December of that year and spent over 12 months out of the first team.

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Bolasie was told that he was surplus to requirements at the start of the current campaign but after 21 games in the Championship he pulled the plug on his time in the Midlands and left Goodison chiefs scrambling to get him back out of the exit door before the January transfer window slammed shut.

Their plans almost came to nought though as Anderlecht general manager Michael Verschueren revealed in an interview with Het Belang van Limburg – via Sports Witness.

Verschueren said: “We decided to go for a wide attacker in Yannick Bolasie.

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“Frank Arnesen knows Marcel Brands, the sports director of Everton, from PSV.

“Romelu Lukaku also convinced his former team mate to choose us.

“At 3pm we had a deal. Unfortunately, Yannick missed his plane due to a traffic jam. We booked the flights, but he didn’t get in until 9:30pm.

(Image: NICOLAS MAETERLINCK/AFP/Getty Images)

“Fortunately, we had already tested him medically in England, I never want to experience this again.

“The contract had to be read and then the clubs had to enter the transfer in the FIFA program.

“One minute before midnight the light was still red. Everyone was shaking. Crazy!

“Only 43 seconds before the market closed: green light. One minute later and we were empty-handed.”

The ECHO understands that all the hold ups in the deal being completed came from the Anderlecht end and that Everton conducted themselves in an exemplary manner throughout.