Former Everton assistant manager Erwin Koeman has defended their signings during his time at Goodison Park.

Erwin worked with brother Ronald Koeman at Everton and admits the sale of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United was keenly felt.

“Everybody knows about Wayne Rooney and he talked to Ronald and said he would very much like to come back to Everton and he is still a good player," he told the Liverpool Echo.

“He was very experienced, which was good for the young players.

“Gylfi Sigurdsson, we knew him very well and he's a good player. His set-pieces were normally fantastic. Davy Klaassen came for a lot of money but he was playing in Holland and in England, it is very, very different in the way of playing, in the tempo and physicality. He had some problems but, still, if we had that player like Lukaku for this period, then it would have been easier for a player like Klaassen to come into the team in the Premier League.

“Nikola Vlasic also came and, for me, he is still a fantastic player but, again, he is not a goal scorer like a striker so every week the consequences of not replacing Lukaku [were felt].

“If Lukaku had been sold in May, or the beginning of June, then it would have given the club much more time to find a replacement.

“Ronald spoke with him a lot of times and, of course, tried to get him to stay but I think Ronald knew as well that in England that if one of the big teams came for him, we couldn't keep him.

“Two or three weeks after he left, PSG paid £200m for Neymar and I thought, maybe, Everton could have got more money for Lukaku - £100-120m – if they had been able to wait a little longer. But this was not possible."