Everton were interested in Spartak Moscow forward Quincy Promes, says teammate Sofiane Hanni

Everton were interested in Spartak Moscow forward Quincy Promes according to his teammate Sofiane Hanni, who claims that the Russian league champions rejected a €30m (£26.5m) offer from Southampton for their coveted Dutchman in the January transfer window.

Promes was pursued by the struggling Saints [Sky Sports] during the winter window as they desperately sought to bolster their attacking ranks ahead of the business end of the campaign. Mauricio Pellegrino's side did manage to pilfer striker Guido Carrillo from Monaco, but their attempts to sign Promes eventually proved futile.

Southampton had a £25m bid for the Holland international was rejected by Spartak during the final days of the transfer window, according to the Daily Mail.

And Hanni, who joined the Russian giants from Anderlecht on deadline day, revealed that the St Mary's outfit saw an increased offer for Promes rebuffed during the final moments of the winter market and also spoke about apparent interest from Everton, who eventually plumped for Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun.

"A few weeks ago, Spartak refused a €30m offer from Southampton for Quincy Promes, one of the best players in the team. I also heard Everton were interested," Hanni told Sport/Foot, relayed by Sport Witness.

Everton were in serious need of attacking reinforcements in January but Sam Allardyce's saw fit to sign Walcott and Tosun over Promes, whose contract with Spartak expires in the summer of 2021.

The Merseysiders have acquired players both from the Premier League and abroad in recent months, but after seeing a number of their foreign imports struggle to acclimatise to the rigours of English football the powers at be at Goodison Park may have been reluctant to further load the squad with top flight novices; Allardyce has already expressed concerns over former Besiktas forward Tosun.

Southampton were confident of pushing through a club-record deal for Promes in the summer, per the Mail, but any hopes of signing the 26-year-old would be surely dashed if they suffered relegation, a very realistic prospect for Pellegrino's men with just 11 games of the season remaining.