Coming off the bench for one minute against Willem II for Go Ahead Eagles on Saturday, Cuco Martina made his first club appearance since April 20th 2019.
The Curaçao international did play his country throughout that period, but following a loan spell from Everton at Feyenoord for the second half of the 2018-19 season and his release from Goodison Park in the summer of 2020, the now 32-year-old hadn’t represented a club at first-team level in well over two years.
Without a team for a long time, he was snapped up by Go Ahead Eagles on November 26th and came on for them a day later in a 1-0 win.
Speaking to De Telegraaf about it all, relayed by Voetbal Primeur, he said: “I missed a lot of opportunities. If you have played football in the Premier League and are a free transfer, then you are waiting for something beautiful, but the ideal club, in my opinion, did not present itself”.
With Covid-19 then sweeping the world, few clubs were willing to take a chance on the right-back, who explained it was ‘difficult to continue training alone’, going as far as saying he had ‘had enough and seriously considered stopping football’.
However, when Go Ahead Eagles came forward, he decided to take the opportunity, although he knows there’s a long way to go fitness wise before he is ‘at the level of the rest of the squad and can play entire matches again’.
Still, it appears the former Everton and Southampton man has finally landed on his feet again, and he’s happy to be kicking a ball at club level again.
