Sometimes you don’t need riches, fame and footballing glory to find your happiness and for former Everton striker David Henen, that is definitely the case.
That’s at least if his latest comments to Het Nieuwsblad are anything to go by, with the 27-year-old insisting he’s very happy as he currently plys his trade in Kazakhstan.
The striker joined Tobol Kostanay in February this year, his latest club in a long line in what has been a varied career so far.
His career started in Belgium with Standard Liege before joining Anderlecht and by 2014 had moved to Greece to join Olympiakos, but was quickly sold to Everton that same month.
He remained at Everton for four years but never made the breakthrough at Goodison Park, never making the first team and only managing 55 appearances for Everton’s U21s.
Henen instead spent most of his time out on loan, first going back to Olympiakos before then joining Fleetwood Town.
A free transfer to Charleroi, which meant a return to Belgium, beckoned in August 2018 and that lasted for two years before he moved to France with Grenoble for another two year stint and eventual move to Kortrijk.
Now he’s in Kazakhstan after a move earlier this year and, despite that seemingly being a move to the very bottom of the footballing pyramid, he insists he’s more than happy with where he is.
“You cannot compare football here with football in Belgium, but this competition does have sufficient quality with teams such as Astana, Karait and us,” he said.
“We recently won the Supercup with Tobyl, not bad. The club also became champion a few years ago and won the cup last season.
“I ended up in a good team, where I found myself again. The coach posted me in other positions and that seems to be paying off.
“Life is an adjustment, but when it comes to football I feel good. I didn’t actually know Tobyl and Kazakhstan myself, but I saw it as a challenge. Every day I feel better and better.”
