Everton chief Marcel Brands has dismissed claims they beat Manchester United to Yerry Mina's signing because they agreed to pay massive agents' fees.

Sources close to the deal at Old Trafford claimed they withdrew from negotiations with Barcelona because Mina's agent, his uncle Jair, was demanding an excessive fee.

Brands said, "We never changed our offer. That was a bit of gamble because everyone was writing about Man United (wanting Mina) and Barcelona used that, agents used that, everyone used it.

"The player said constantly to me, 'I want to go to Everton'. That was a great thing for us but you never know if Manchester United come in and offer an extra £150,000 a week - every player would like that.

"Barcelona said to me, 'Man United are coming in'. I don't know if they did but I took a bit of a risk with that. That's why we were also keen on back-ups. You never know.

"But after the weekend before the market closed, I had a confident feeling about it."