Kevin Mirallas is speaking in his characteristically conspiratorial tone, a barely audible whisper that suggests he is about to impart a secret.



In the Diamond Bar of Royal Antwerp’s Bosuilstadion, he is recalling the winter of 2014-15 and how he could have left Everton for Tottenham Hotspur. It is a story that included talks with Daniel Levy and Mauricio Pochettino and ended in a bemused training ground exchange with new signing Aaron Lennon and a Merseyside derby to forget.



“I scored a lot of goals in the first part of the season and in January, my agent called to tell me a lot of teams were interested,” he tells The Athletic. “I told him I didn’t want to go in January as it was better to finish the new season, but he kept calling me to say that Daniel Levy and Mauricio Pochettino wanted me (at Tottenham).



“Then, he also told me Diego Simeone (the Atletico Madrid coach) was calling for me. At that moment, there were...