Kevin Mirallas has admitted he failed to take the hint quickly when Everton made it clear they wanted him to depart.
The Belgian has been speaking to DH Net about his career and his time at Everton, which came to an end in 2019.
The forward spent seven years at Goodison Park after joining Everton from Olympiacos in a €7.65m deal in August 2012, managing 38 goals and 33 assists in 186 games for the club in that time.
They are by far the club he most represented in his career, and he remains well thought of on the Blue side of Merseyside, a sentiment he seemingly shares as he regularly speaks about his time at the club, often fondly.
His departure from Everton was something of a messy one, though, with him originally going out on loan in 2018 to Olympiacos and then again, the following year, this time to Fiorentina, before leaving on a free transfer to Royal Antwerp in 2019.
At that point the club had moved on and wanted him to do so too, something he admits he didn’t grasp too quickly.
“First of all, you should know that Fiorentina had already been interested in me before I went to Olympiacos. But I had already given my consent,” he said.
“The end of the 2017/18 season is coming. I went on vacation, there were still contacts with Fiorentina. Everton’s new coach Marcos Silva told me: ‘Listen, you’re going to do the preparation with us and then we’ll see.’
“It didn’t change anything for me because I had decided to do the pre-season with Everton before making a decision about my future: either I had served my time at Everton, or I continued because I still had two years on my contract.
“The preseason went very well, I played everything. And a week before the start of the championship, the coach told me that I was not going to start, that I was not sure of having my place. Which wasn’t a problem for me.
“Except that the next day, he called me again to tell me that it was going to be complicated given my salary was so high, that it was better that I go on loan. And from there, it was activated with Fiorentina.”
Marco Silva’s gently, gently approach got there in the end.
