Fernandes opts out of Everton move

Everton have been stunned by Manuel Fernandes' decision to join Valencia - less than 24 hours after he was their guest at Saturday's home game with Blackburn.

The Benfica midfielder even spent an hour with chairman and owner Bill Kenwright assuring the Merseysiders that he would be joining them, before apparently heading home.

In fact, Fernandes flew to Valencia, and now looks certain to join them for a £12million fee. He had already successfully completed a medical at Goodison Park, and the contracts - which included issues of third-party ownership - were being studied by Premier League officials.

Everton boss David Moyes claimed a week ago that Fernandes would "be an Everton player within 24 hours". And as late as Friday the club were expecting clearance for Fernandes to be in their squad for the Blackburn game.

But the whole deal has been turned on its head, even though Everton had actually agreed to meet the £12m asking price for 100% of the player.

Previously it was believed that they had agreed to pay Benfica £6m for their half of Fernandes, with the third-party owners holding the other 50%.

That initially caused problems for the Premier League, who are clamping down on all third-party transfers in the wake of the Carlos Tevez affair, and Everton then moved to buy out the other 50% from the owners.

But at the last moment it looks as if Valencia, who play in Spain's Primera Liga where third-party contracts are no problem, have stepped in and offered around £10m for just 50% of the player, which means his owners would retain an interest in the player and any future transfer fees.