Despite arriving at Goodison Park off the back of an £8m move from Inter and staying four years at Everton between 2005 and 2009, Andy Van der Meyde only ever made 20 Premier League appearances for the club.
Add in the odd cup game here and there, and the now retired winger only managed 24 appearances for the Toffees, which is a quite frankly terrible return on what could have and should have been decent transfer.
Speaking to Eleven Sports in Belgium, relayed by DH, the 40-year-old explained why he moved to Everton in the first place, and gave his personal view on his time in England.
He said: “In Italy, things went well. I played 36 games in two seasons, but then I went to England because I wanted to find more game time ahead of the 2006 World Cup. Dick Advocaat told me to play more. I went to Everton. I really wanted to succeed over there.
After being released of his contract at Everton in 2009, the player tried to briefly kickstart things again with PSV Eindhoven and then WKE in Holland, but it was never to be.
Since his retirement, Van der Meyde has written a book and is now the star of his own YouTube show “Bij Andy in de Auto”, which loosely translates to “With Andy in the car”, and is a Carpool Karaoke-esque interview (without the singing) between the retired player and current footballers like Hakim Ziyech, Frenkie de Jong or Romelu Lukaku.
He says he’s now happy, living his life day-to-day and not thinking about the future.
