Muhamed Besic turns 30 today – a landmark birthday for all professional footballers – but while his time at Everton is now fading into the distance, the midfielder still looks back on his Goodison Park days with great affection. Besic was in essence something of an oxymoron in that he was a Roberto Martinez hatchet man.
The Catalan coach was always passionate about the unwavering principles that forged his personal philosophy over how he felt the beautiful game should be played and while in charge at Everton he once declared: “Too many times you see a team that go for being a parasite, give you the ball, defend, be destructive.” Yet even Martinez was pragmatic enough to acknowledge that all teams need a bit of steel as well as silk and that’s where Besic came in.
While working as a television pundit for ESPN at the 2014 World Cup, the same tournament in which future Everton player James Rodriguez secured the Golden Boot, just weeks after he’d been handed the bumper new five-year contract by Bill Kenwright on the back of a club record points haul in the Premier League era that would ultimately cost the Blues more than £10million in compensation after he was sacked two years later, Martinez spotted Besic playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
READ MORE: Everton postponement gives Frank Lampard chance to hone tactic that surprised Liverpool
READ MORE: What we have learned from Everton's first six games as two players see value soar
The Everton manager was impressed with the way in which the holding midfielder shackled Lionel Messi, the world’s best player and player of the tournament (the latter title was arguably on shakier ground given he didn’t score beyond the group stages) during his country’s opening match at the famous Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. For the first hour at least as the legendary Barcelona stalwart finally found the net in the 65th minute in what proved to be a 2-1 victory.
Shortly after his Everton release, Besic told the ECHO: “I played against Messi and Bale and they want to go one-on-one, I like this. Because if I am fit, they cannot go past me. Impossible.”
Martinez was sufficiently impressed to prise Berlin-born Besic away from the relative obscurity of Hungarian club football with Ferencvaros for a £4million fee and he’d go on to make 31 appearances for Everton in all competitions during his first season with the club, a figure that proved to be his highest single haul. The following campaign, in which he turned out 17 times, was dogged by hamstring injuries and from then on the player was reduced to a bit-part role.
An anterior cruciate ligament tear in August 2016, shortly after Ronald Koeman’s arrival, ensured he failed to kick a ball that season and while he officially remained an Everton player until last summer, that was over three-and-a-half years after what proved to be his final appearance in the 3-0 victory over Apollon Limassol in a Europa League dead rubber in Cyprus on December 7, 2017. In between there had been two loan spells at Middlesbrough and one at Sheffield United and even a reinstatement into the first team squad by Carlo Ancelotti for the second half of the largely behind-closed-doors 2020/21 season failed to produce any game time.
Besic likes to remember the good times on Merseyside though and he believes the high point was his display in Everton’s 2-1 win over Manchester City in the 2016 League Cup semi-final first leg. He said: “Always people say this. I see a lot of fans and they always mention it.
“It was a great performance. I am capable of this every week. It’s just life and how it goes.
“You need trust from your coach and, at that time, I got a lot of trust from Martinez. Unbelievable.”
While Besic, who returned to Ferencvaros at the start of last season, is thankful for the opportunity that Martinez handed him in English football, he was also happy to highlight the times that Evertonians took his side rather than that of the manager. He said: “I miss Everton.
“I like to play at Goodison. I normally don’t talk about this, but when we played against West Brom at home and the coach took me off, the fans booed. This stays in my heart.
“And when we played Liverpool, 0-0, he took me off in the 77th minute and they booed twice. This connection to the fans is amazing.”
READ NEXT
- Jordan Pickford extends worrying Everton trend as six key players could miss Arsenal
- Five things spotted in Everton training as Dominic Calvert-Lewin looks sharp and teenager joins in
- 'More than just a stadium project' - Liverpool Mayor hails Everton's future home
- Forgotten Everton plan comes to the rescue after Jordan Pickford injury
Amadou Onana already delivering on Frank Lampard's Everton 'need'
