Tottenham's lack of funds wrecked Everton's hopes of beating Aston Villa for Wigan Athletic winger Charles N'Zogbia.
The Daily Star Sunday says the French winger, 25, had become David Moyes' top target and Everton were trying to raise the £10million fee Wigan chairman Dave Whelan was demanding.
Everton hoped to do that by selling Jack Rodwell to Tottenham for a reduced fee of £15m.
But like Everton, Spurs need to sell players before they can buy on a big scale and that deal failed to materialise in time.
In the meantime, Villa and Wigan compromised on a fee for N'Zogbia (below) after the Midlands club's first offer of £9m was rejected.
