David Moyes was well-known for his selectiveness over potential Everton transfer targets so Lars Jacobsen admits he was grateful that the then Blues boss came back in for him a year after he made the “mistake” of snubbing a move to Goodison Park.
Moyes was meticulous when it came to checks on recruits, notably watching Joleon Lescott on 24 separate occasions before signing him from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2006. Jacobsen’s fellow Denmark international defender Per Kroldrup, who was less than a couple of months older than him, was a rare blip with the centre-back being packed off back to Italy after just a couple of matches with supposed doubts over his heading ability.
However, the Scot was willing to give the right-back a second chance after he initially rejected his advances. Jacobsen told evertonfc.com: “It was at Copenhagen where my career really started to take off.
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“I started playing for the national team, and there were a lot of clubs looking at me because we were playing Champions League. One of those sides was Everton.
“I had a meeting with David Moyes and his assistant Alan Irvine after the last Champions League game against Celtic in 2006.
“He told me he wanted me to go to Everton... but then I went to Nurnberg instead! That was my first mistake.
“I thought it would be the right move for me as I knew the German league. I guess I took a safer route going to Germany because I really wanted to guarantee I’d play.
“But then, I ended up being injured for pretty much the whole year and we got relegated. So I had to search for a new club.”
Jacobsen added: “My agent called Everton and asked if they would be interested and, unfortunately for the club, but thankfully for me, Hibbo had got injured so they needed another right-back. I arrived a year later than I was supposed to, but the move finally happened.
“I trained for a couple of days before going away with the national team. But then I dislocated my shoulder against Portugal. It was devastating. I was injured for most of the season and only managed to come back for the final 10 games or so.”
Indeed, Jacobsen, now 43, ended up playing just six times for Everton but his final outing for the club was in the 2009 FA Cup final when he replaced Hibbert at half-time. He said: “I played a lot of the games before the final but didn’t actually play any of the FA Cup matches in the previous rounds. “I travelled to the semi-final against Manchester United but didn’t play in the game. I remember the manager said to me before the final, ‘I am going to play Hibbo.’
“I said that’s fair enough. He had played most of the season and he deserved it. I was disappointed but I totally understood it.”
Jacobsen said: “Hibbo had a small injury. He couldn’t play longer than 45 minutes, which meant I got my chance to be out there.
“I hardly remember anything from the game itself. It’s always tough to go on at half-time.
“I was an experienced player, but there were some nerves. There was probably a billion people watching at home, nearly 100,000 in the stadium... you are going to war and it’s time to perform.
“It was so hot that day, and at Wembley, you sit right under the sun on the bench. I remember being told to get warm. My first thought was ‘Trust me, I am warm – actually, I’m burning!’”
