Eintracht Frankfurt defender Niels Nkounkou has revealed he never wanted to leave Everton permanently for Saint-Etienne, with their decision to buy him shocking him.
The defender has been speaking to Peuple Vert about his time at Saint-Etienne and his eventual permanent move from Everton in July 2023.
The full-back had been at Goodison Park since July 2020 when he arrived in a €270k deal from Marseille B, becoming Carlo Ancelotti’s first signing at Goodison Park.
He spent some time in the first team before eventually being shipped out on various loan deals, first with Standard Liege, then Cardiff and eventually Saint-Etienne.
It was the latter which proved to be the real successful one for him, with the full-back managing an impressing six goals and eight assists in 21 games between January and the end of the season.
Those numbers eventually convinced the French side to sign him on a permanent basis in the summer, before then selling him to Eintracht Frankfurt for a significant profit.
It seems Nkounkou didn’t want that to happen, though, and had made it clear he wanted to return to Everton at the end of his loan spell back in France.
“As I explained, when I arrived at Sainté, it was a loan with an option to buy,” he said.
“But the option put by Everton was so high that Sainté couldn’t buy it, knowing that they didn’t know if they were going to maintain themselves. They had money problems.
“They said to me: ‘You know what? The option is there, we have to accept it, but under no circumstances are we going to mention it or lift it.’
“Then the director comes to see me: ‘Niels, end of season, we’re lifting the option.’
“They tell me: ‘Given what you’re doing, we’re going to tell each other, if we don’t raise the option. option, we’re going to look like crazy people! Because we’re going to let a player go like that.’
“I think Everton had put the option at €2.5 million. At that time, I wanted to return to Everton. Before signing the loan at Sainté, I extended with Everton.”
