Former Hull City boss Silva was relieved his duties at Vicarage Road last month after overseeing a dreadful run of form which saw them win just once in 11 matches. The dramatic dip in performances coincided with Everton's approach for the Portuguese, who believes he should receive £750,000 plus additional compensation from the Hertfordshire outfit, according to The Times.

Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri made Marco Silva his primary target to replace the dismissed Ronald Koeman, who was named Holland boss earlier this week, and even offered as much as £15m for the talented but temperamental 40-year-old, who enjoyed a wildly encouraging start to his brief and embittered reign at Watford.

The powers that be at Vicarage Road stood firm over Silva despite the vast sums of money offered by Everton, who eventually appointed Sam Allardyce much to the chagrin of many of the club's supporters. But the former Olympiakos manager's desire to leave for Merseyside after just nine league matches in charge was not received well nor forgotten by the Pozzo owners, who replaced the highly-rated coach with former Malaga boss Javi Gracia last month.

Silva has not made any public statement about his departure from Watford as he has not yet agreed a severance package with his now former club, who may dismiss the Portuguese's financial demands as they believe he was guilty of breaching his contract by talking to Everton without their consent.

It remains to be seen if Everton reignite their interest in Silva, whose reputation has certainly been tarnished by his poor handling of the Toffees' approach. Allardyce is not expected to remain on Merseyside beyond this summer, but the Goodison Park hierarchy were also keen on Shakhtar Donetsk manager Paulo Fonseca, whose contract with the Ukrainian giants is due to expire at the end of the season.