Dyche tried to sign Lukaku

But Dyche, Watford boss at the time, got short shrift from Roberto Di Matteo at Chelsea.

Lukaku joined the Blues from Anderlecht for an initial £10m in the summer of 2011, aged 18.

The Belgian striker would end up on a season-long loan at West Brom in the summer of 2012, but before the end of Lukaku's first season at Stamford Bridge, Dyche made his audacious bid.

The Clarets take on the 23-goal striker at Goodison Park on Saturday, and Dyche smiled: “To be honest, I remember at Watford ringing Roberto Di Matteo about him.

"He just laughed and said 'he's a Champions League player'.

"I said 'okay, he'll not be coming to Watford then'.

"Looking at him as a young lad when he first arrived I thought he looked a handful then.

"But he's more than that. He can play, he's a physical handful but he's a fine player, no two ways around it.

“(But) Everton are not just about him. He's a massiv focal point, we know that, with his goals but there's more to Everton that him. You can't make your whole team's performance about that player.

"You've got to understand there's good players around him and there is that awareness here.”