Everton slam Gosling's age

The Merseyside club have been angered by suggestions from Gosling's agent they were complacent over contract negotiations with the 20-year-old and they assumed an injury would make him unattractive to other clubs.

Gosling joined Newcastle this week after exploiting a technicality that made him a free agent. Ordinarily clubs are entitled to a fee for any player under 24 but Everton's failure to make the youngster a written offer of a new deal by a mid-May deadline meant Newcastle could swoop without paying compensation.

Everton thought they had a verbal agreement in place with Gosling and have been saddened by the way events have unfolded.

A club statement read: "In the wake of a report in a Sunday newspaper in which the agent of Dan Gosling made a series of allegations, Everton Football Club has decided to take the unprecedented step of setting straight a record of recent events which has, in its opinion, been deliberately distorted.

"In the article, Mr David Hodgson suggested that not only did this club not wish to extend Mr Gosling's stay at Goodison Park but that it had been deliberately tardy with regard to the formal offer of a new contract, presuming that an injury sustained by the player during the course of last season was of such a serious nature it would prevent him from signing for another club. Both claims are ludicrous, totally without substance and grossly misleading."