Watford deny Everton's first attempt to hire Marco Silva

It looks like Everton have not been quiet during the international break, with news breaking that the Blues are attempting to prise away Marco Silva from Watford FC.

According to a report in The Independent, the Toffees have reached out to the Hornets but with no release clause in place for their manager, Watford have refused to let Silva speak to Everton.

The report goes on to claim that Everton have already looked at Sam Allardyce and Sean Dyche, and have now turned their attention towards Silva. The Portuguese manager did well with Hull City last season but was unable to save them from relegation. He then switched to Watford and is off to a good start with the Vicarage Road side as well.

The two sides met in the last Premier League game before the current international break, with Everton coming back from a two-goal deficit to pull out a late 3-2 win. Silva is at Watford on a two-year contract.

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With their rejection of Everton’s proposal, Watford now consider the matter closed but in reality this could be just the start. The Toffees will be heartened by the news that Silva wants to talk to Everton and is interested in the position.

Silva is interested in speaking to Everton if a deal can be agreed between the clubs, but Watford today rejected Everton's approach. Watford do not want to lose Silva mid-season - he has only been in charge for 12 games - and believe that having said no to Everton's approach today that the matter is now closed. There is no release clause in Silva's Watford contract, meaning that Everton's only option is to offer Watford a compensation package so lucrative that they cannot turn it down.

This would have to be somewhere in the £5million range, considering the release clause for Dyche was about £3.5m. Rumour had it that Ronald Koeman was making between £5-6m.

Silva had turned down Porto, Crystal Palace and West Ham United at the beginning of the season when he accepted the Watford job, and has been tipped to take over at Arsenal or Manchester United in the next few years.

The report also added that caretaker manager David Unsworth is likely out of the running for the permanent role now.

Internal candidate David Unsworth has been in caretaker charge at Goodison Park and was understood to have every chance of earning the job on a permanent basis but results have failed to improve under his brief stewardship and Everton are now looking for inspiration from outside the club.