Everton have hit back in the aftermath of the controversy that saw highly-rated youngster Dan Gosling exploit a legal loophole to leave the club on a free transfer.
Everton made a verbal offer of a new contract to Gosling, but it was not submitted in writing by the required cut-off date.
The 20-year-old subsequently joined Premier League rivals Newcastle United on July 22, with his agent going on to suggest that the Toffees had deliberately neglected to make a formal contract offer to a player they believed could not exit the club.
Everton, outraged by the comments, have moved quickly to present their side of the dispute.
"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," a club statement read.
"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.
"The manager of Everton, David Moyes, and the chairman, Bill Kenwright, contacted Mr Hodgson in November of last year to jointly offer Dan Gosling a new contract.
"Several subsequent conversations took place during the course of which Mr Hodgson not only indicated that the deal offered would be "fine" but also reaffirmed that a 'hand-shake agreement' was in place dating back to when Mr Gosling joined the club as a 17-year-old in January 2008.
"It was Everton's understanding that this Gentleman's agreement would guarantee that the player would extend, by at least two years, the three-year deal he signed upon his arrival from Plymouth Argyle."
Club chairman, Bill Kenwright, strongly refuted any suggestions that the club had been lax in allowing Gosling's contract to expire.
"In the very long history of our Club, our executive team have never once forgotten or neglected to deal properly and professionally with contractual matters," said Mr Kenwright.
"We place our trust in people; we always keep our side of any offered deal - and all we have ever asked is that others do the same."
Manager David Moyes echoed his chairman's sentiments, bemoaning the fact Gosling had chosen to turn his back on the club that had given him his Premier League break.
"I was always fully aware of the handshake agreement which Dave Hodgson had with a senior Club official regarding Dan's fourth and fifth years - and because of that agreement there wasn't, in my opinion, any necessity to put anything in writing," Moyes acknowledged.
"The first I knew of a problem was when Dave rang me to say that Dan's contract had lapsed and that he would be seeking to leave us on a free transfer.
"I told Dave that he had an agreement with the Club which he was now reneging on. We scouted Dan Gosling and brought him in when several other Premier League clubs looked but did not purchase.
"We feel aggrieved that they have contrived a situation to get the player out of the Club when, if he had come and said that he wanted to leave, we could at least have done something about it - but at no point did Dan say he wished to leave.
"I read at the weekend that he cried when he didn't receive a formal, written offer," Moyes concluded.
"Well, trust me, the money Everton were offering was certainly not a crying matter."
The Premier League tribunal determined that as Everton had not put a contractual offer in written form before the acknowledged deadline, Gosling was entitled to make his departure from the club.
Source: Goal UK
Everton claim Dan Gosling broke agreement
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