Player yet again talks about chance to leave Everton – And talks himself up

After spending seven seasons at Everton, Kevin Mirallas left the Merseyside club and joined Antwerp on a free transfer in the last transfer window.

Roberto Martínez is currently in charge of the Belgium national team and the winger played under him between 2013 and 2016 at Goodison Park.

The 32-year-old featured regularly for the Toffees when the Spaniard was in charge and also contributed with goals and assists while being deployed on left and right wing.

Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad sat down for an interview with the wideman and asked him why he never moved to Spain, the country where his father was born. While responding to it, Mirallas opened up about Atlético Madrid’s approach in the past.

“…I have had a few chances. But then the Spanish [financial] crisis made a transfer difficult. And in 2015 Atlético were interested, but Roberto Martinez, then trainer at Everton, wouldn’t let me go,” he said.

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Prior to arriving at Everton, the player had spells in France and Greece and has scored 93 goals for clubs outside Belgium. Mirallas believes his statistics would have been even better, if he’d focused more on scoring himself rather than assisting teammates.

“I can look back [at my career] with pride, but with my qualities I could have done much better,” the former Everton man explained.

“Only with the years I became more a team player, more the assist man than the goals. Had I been more selfish, I would indeed have had better statistics and could have moved on.”

This isn’t the first time Mirallas has spoken about chances to leave Everton, with him doing it several times in the past month alone.