Halid Djankpata left Everton to join Serie B side Spezia in the last summer window.
Everton received a fee of €250k from the sale, with Djankpata signing a three-year deal with Spezia, with the option to extend the contract for another year.
The 19-year-old has yet to make his debiut in Serie B, but has played five games for the Italian club’s U19s team. The midfielder failed to break into the Everton first-team, playing two games for the U21s side in the Premier League 2 before departing.
Djankpata’s agent Stefano Antonelli has now spoken to PianetaSerieB about his client’s Everton exit and why the move to Spezia came about.
He told the outlet, revealing the plans the midfielder had for his career: “Bringing him to Italy had a targeted reasoning.”
“Everton is an important club in the Premier League and he has always been a leading player in the Under-21s. He also had some training sessions in the first team. When the call to the Under-19s came from [manager Bernardo] Corradi, we realised that he had to complete his preparation in Italy, to complete the work in England and his technical ability and physicality.”
Antonelli went on to state the lack of game time with the Merseyside club was not the reason for the youngster’s exit.
“The minutes played were not important, but everything else was – the type of training and how you approach a match.”
During his time at Goodison Park, Djankpata played 35 games for the club’s U21s side and 33 times for the U18s side.
The next step for the teenager will surely be to play regularly for Spezia’s first-team and maybe get a bigger move in the future.
