Former Everton forward Kevin Mirallas has admitted he was left astounded when he joined Fiorentina and found they didn’t have a day off from training.
The Belgian has been speaking to DH Net about his career, which inevitably meant a long conversation about Everton.
He spent seven years with the Toffees after joining from Olympiacos in 2012, going on to make 186 appearances for the club before leaving on a free transfer in 2019.
The final two years of his time at Goodison Park were actually spent away from the club as he first joined Olympiacos on loan and then Fiorentina.
He was a regular for the Italian side during his time there, making 30 appearances in all competitions and managing two goals and three assists.
They had been keen to sign him on a permanent basis, at least according to his recollection of events, but Everton’s asking price ended up shocking the Serie A side and seeing them pull away from a permanent deal.
When it comes to surprises, though, none were greater than the one Mirallas received when he first arrived from Everton.
“I arrived two weeks before the start of the championship,” he said.
“The first three, four days, I found that it was simpler, it was even a little slow compared to the team and what I had experienced in England. So, I told myself it wasn’t going to be a problem.
“Except that the week before the first championship match, they send me the schedule and I see one training session on Monday, two on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, one on Thursday, one on Friday and a match on Saturday.
“And I say to myself ‘but what’s that, there’s no day off in the week?’ In fact, you work like crazy. It was totally different from England where the intensity is greater on the weekends while it is calmer during the week.
“It was a new workload with a lot of leg strength training. It wasn’t necessarily what I needed at 31 years old. I had physical problems the first two weeks because I wasn’t used to working like that. I really had to adapt.
“It took me until October because there was the physical load but also the adaptation to the team, to what the coach asked, to a whole pleasant environment but which I had not experienced. It’s the first time I arrived in a championship where I had to adapt so much.”
