I think people need to stop taking newspaper reports as literal facts.How long does it take whether to decide to make another offer or not
Seems like weeks at Everton
It’s highly unlikely Everton made an offer, it got rejected and then went ‘ok Southampton, we’re going away to think about what we do next.’
What’s likely is the clubs are now in dialogue talking about terms. Some call it a negotiations.
The newspapers aren’t also in the room. So they have no idea until someone leaks information.