“We didn’t see eye to eye” – €11m striker on decision to leave Everton, still ‘loved’ time with Toffees

Real Sociedad striker Mohamed-Ali Cho has revealed why he left Everton earlier in his career, admitting that they simply didn’t see eye to eye on various matters.

The Frenchman has been speaking to Onze Mondial about his career so far and his decision to leave Everton back in 2020.

He had been with the Toffees since 2015 after arriving on a free transfer from PSG’s Youth setup, moving to Goodison Park with an idea of progressing quickly up the ranks to the first team at Goodison Park.

He didn’t make an official appearance for the Blues in the five years he was there, though and elected to return to his homeland with Angers U19s in January 2020.

By July he had progressed to the first team and went on to score four goals and one assist in 55 games for them in the following two years.

That led to Real Sociedad making a move for him last summer, with them seemingly impressed by what they had seen and paying €11m to secure his signature.

That naturally led to some consternation among Everton’s fanbase, who were once again frustrated to see a player they had once had on their books and allowed to leave on the cheap going on to secure a solid transfer fee down the line.

The striker, though, insists it never would have worked anyway as he and the club did not see eye to eye on his career.

“When I was 4 or 5 years old, I played in small futsal clubs in London. My very first real club was PSG. I played there between the ages of 7 and 12,” he said.

“It wasn’t serious, I was with friends. It was a pleasure to play for PSG. The club then offered me a place at the pre-training centre, but for personal reasons I moved back to England.

“We moved to Manchester, and at first, I didn’t have a club. I was just playing in the street with my mates, and one guy spotted me and said to Everton: “There’s a young French lad who’s pretty good, I’ve seen him in the street with his mates, he’s just arrived with his parents”.

“He contacted my parents and I played for the club from U12 to U16. After a while, from a sporting point of view, we didn’t see eye to eye. But we still had a good relationship. It ended very well. I loved my years at Everton.

“For the record, before going to PSG, I’d been accepted by West Ham to join the football academy. I did a screening and was selected; I was so happy. But then we went back to France, and it didn’t work out.”