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A makeshift translator had to be sought for Sandro Ramirez's one and only interview with the English media to date.

The smiling Spanish striker, fresh from scoring in a pre-season friendly against Sevilla at Goodison, was stood in the mixed zone, just outside the entrance to the ground's changing rooms.

Beside him was Fran Alonso, the club's popular former first-team assistant coach under Ronald Koeman, who had been roped in to bridge the language barrier between Sandro and the press.

"...I know, coming from a different league, it is hard to adapt but I came with a very, very open mind and willing to work very, very hard," Sandro said.

"I think I will adjust quickly.”

Regrettably, his optimism was misplaced and rather than be afforded the time to adapt, the decision was soon reached that Everton had made a mistake in signing him.

Everton striker joins Premier League outfit on trial HERE

On the list of costly error the club have made in recent seasons, the £5.2m paid to trigger his release clause at Malaga means Sandro's acquisition is nowhere near the top but where the pinch is still being felt with his wages.

And in trying to sell Sandro, the improved salary he was handed in the summer of 2017 is proving prohibitive for the Blues who have sent him out on loan three times in less than two years.

Saturday marks the two year anniversary of Sandro's only competitive goal for the Blues and, barring an unlikely shift in opinion on the player, then it will remain the solitary strike he registers while part of the club.

It came in the Europa League dead-rubber against Atalanta, at a less than half-full Goodison, and in a chastening 5-1 defeat when Everton's exit from the competition had already been confirmed.

His neat first touch and smart finish, to make it 3-1 on the night, was a glimpse of the talent his coaches had struggled to see too often at Finch Farm.

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Those who have worked with Sandro at Everton talk of a player who worked hard, had speed and dynamism, was in the mould of a typical Spanish player, but one who was finding it difficult to get to grips with the English style.

For some, it quickly became apparent that he was not suited to playing in the Premier League and his inability to speak the language also created issues on the training ground.

Sandro trained with a smile on his face but after being hauled off at half-time in September's game at home to Spurs, the writing was on the wall.

The team was struggling, Koeman was under pressure and if Sandro was looking for an environment that gave him the chance to bed in, he was not going to find it.

He would not start another Premier League game for the club after Spurs and while Koeman remained in charge, for another six weeks, his decision to use Sandro sparingly, and then drop the Spanish under-21s international from the final two squads of his reign, is said to have added to the friction between the Dutch manager and director of football Steve Walsh.

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In the muddled and sometimes confusing record splurge that summer, it was not always clear which of Koeman or Walsh had driven which signing, and it seemed rare they were in full agreement.

But Sandro, for all intents and purposes, was Walsh's acquisition, it seems.

His trusted Spanish and Portuguese scout, Dave Worthington, fed the initial reports before chief scout Martyn Glover took a look.

Everton had tried, and failed, to raid La Liga 12 months earlier when Arsenal pipped them to the signing of Deportivo de La Coruna's Lucas Perez and so Walsh was already well aware of the Spanish market, with Real Sociedad's Willian Jose also on the list of targets that summer.

Worthington and Glover would be kept on by Marcel Brands when he took over from Walsh in May 2018 but both have since left Goodison.

Everton appointed Nathan Fisher, a former senior scout with Middlesborough, to cover Spain for the club earlier this season.

On May 7 the day after a 1-0 defeat at Swansea City, Koeman and Walsh sat in the stands at Malaga's La Rosaleda home and ran the rule over Sandro.

Koeman would later be pictured in conversation with the player's agent, Gines Carvajal, who had previously brought Joel Robles and Gerard Deulofeu to Everton, and gave his blessing, but the manager was still hopeful at that stage that Olivier Giroud would come in from Arsenal to help fill the void that would be left by Romelu Lukaku.

Atletico Madrid were battling a transfer ban yet, nonetheless, still sniffing around the player but the Blues, having flown Sandro over to Liverpool in June (putting him up in the Titanic Hotel), and ahead of the u-21 European Championships, were hopeful of sealing the deal.

(Image: JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images)

And it was during the tournament, when Everton sent a delegation to Poland on June 21, that he signed a four-year contract.

The deal became caught up in red tape, and was not officially announced until July 3, but the Blues appeared to have done a seriously good piece of business in landing the former Barcelona player, who registered 14 goals and five assists in La Liga that season, for such a modest fee.

Expectations and excitement were high and so the extent of Sandro's struggles, and the minimal impact he has made, have only amplified the disappointment over his transfer.

Everton, Walsh and many supporters were convinced that his signing would prove to be a bargain although, at the time, whispers in European scouting circles were doubting he had the physicality to cope with the Premier League.

Hopes that Koeman's sacking would improve the forward's prospect were soon dashed as caretaker boss David Unsworth used him only twice.

Sam Allardyce, a long-time friend of Walsh's, would do the same when he arrived before Christmas but gave the Spaniard a glimmer of hope when saying: "There’s more players from abroad that don’t work in their first season. They fail more than they succeed, that’s across the board and at every club.

“It’s season two that really counts. The new season everyone starts fresh and everyone has a new chance to impress.”

A loan to Sevilla, in the second-half of the season, was sorted but when he returned Allardyce, and then Walsh, had gone.

New manager Marco Silva offered Sandro the chance to stay with the squad but under consideration as a winger.

He played in that position, and laid on an assist, in the Carabao Cup tie at home to Rotherham but by the end of August, a season-long loan with Real Sociedad had been arranged.

Sandro still hadn't scored since his consolation against Atalanta and his drought in front of goal would stretch to this season, across 53 matches, when he netted for Real Valladolid against Mallorca.

Sources in Spain say the way the striker was mobbed by team-mates was indicative of the will there has been for him to regain his form.

Sandro has refused to let his head drop and he is said to have embraced Valladolid's hard-working approach in La Liga this season as he aims to piece together his career.

Everton will try, once more, to sell the 24-year-old next summer as he prepares to enter the final year of his contract.

Sadly for Sandro, that second season Allardyce had dangled in front of him will never materialise.