Everton boss Ronald Koeman has reiterated that he hopes that the Toffees are able to keep Ross Barkley at Goodison Park.
Earlier this week, Koeman said that the midfielder - who has one year left on his contract - had a limited time to decide whether he wanted to remain at Merseyside or he would be sold during the summer.
Barkley netted the only goal of the match as Everton beat Watford on Friday night and after the game, Koeman said that "everything" had been done to try to keep the England international at his boyhood club.
The Dutchman is quoted by Sky Sports News as saying: "I can understand for the players that it's a difficult situation, but football is also sometimes a business.
"You know if you have players in the team who go into the last year of the contract, you need to do business.
"I still hope that he will sign that good offer which the board made, and that he will continue. We did everything. The board did everything with the offer they made for him."
Barkley - who has featured in all but one of Everton's league matches this season - is likely to attract interest from some of the Premier League's top clubs should he be made available for transfer.
Darren Plant
