Everton star reveals the club kept shirt number free for Diego Costa over the summer

Sunday's 5-2 defeat at home to Arsenal was Everton's last under Ronald Koeman.

Despite spending big in the summer, a difficult start to the campaign for the Toffees - both domestically and in the Europa League - saw the axe fall on the Dutchman, leaving him free to decorate his Christmas tree whichever colour he likes in a couple of months time. To many, Koeman's failure to find a striker to replace Romelu Lukaku proved crucial in the club's poor start to the season and ultimately cost him his job. The former Southampton boss made it known towards the end of the summer that he'd have been open to signing Diego Costa from Chelsea - even if such a deal were to only be a temporary one until the Spanish international completed a move back to Atletico Madrid in January. Costa didn't end up at Goodison, although comments from one of Everton's players appear to indicate the club fancied their chances of landing him. Nikola Vlasic, who joined Everton from Hajduk Split in the summer, says the club left the number 19 shirt vacant for Costa in the hope they could complete a move for him. Speaking to 24sata (via the Mirror), Vlasic made the revelation when explaining how he came to have the number 27 shirt. "Number 27 was free. I wanted 8 but Ross Barkley wears it, while the club was keeping 19 for Diego Costa." As it was, Costa agreed a deal to join Atletico, even though their transfer ban prevents him from playing for them until the new year.