Everton chairman Bill Kenwright has revealed the inner workings of the process that led to Ronald Koeman’s appointment.
Koeman set about on his first day in charge of the Blues on Friday after the search for Roberto Martinez’s successor was officially ended earlier in the week by the Dutchman’s capture on a three-year deal.
Numerous candidates were understood to be in contention for the Goodison Park hot seat, including Manuel Pellegrini, ex-Everton boss David Moyes and Koeman’s former Barcelona team mate Frank de Boer.
But Kenwright insists that the 53-year-old, who arrived from Southampton, remained the first choice of both himself and majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.
“Farhad and I met, I think the day after (Martinez left), and he said ‘ I want Ronald Koeman’ and I said ‘That’s funny, because so do I!’ – it was that simple,” he told Everton TV.
“Now, just in case you can’t get Ronald Koeman, because the press were all saying we wanted him before we wanted him and he was the manager of Southampton, we drew up a shortlist, and there were five [candidates].
“We interviewed a few but it kept coming back, what a job he’s done at Southampton and what a Premier League basis he’s got.
“We felt that was important because the Premier League is a wonderful league but a tough league.
“When the time was right, we approached Southampton and that side of it was relatively quick.”