David Henen has told how he twice came close to making his Everton first-team debut and why it was 'impossible' to pick a club after leaving Goodison Park.
Henen joined Everton in the summer of 2014 on loan from Olympiakos before signing a three-year-deal in the summer of 2015 for an initial fee of around £200,000.
The forward spent seven months on loan at Fleetwood Town in his first season with the club before playing a part in the triumphant under-23s squad that lifted the Premier League 2 title at the end of the 2016/17 season.
Roberto Martinez earmarked Henen as a future first-team player and it was under the Spaniard that he first came close to making his senior debut.
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“Roberto told myself and Brendan [Galloway] we could have made our debuts together, but then I got injured in training,” Henen told Everton’s matchday programme.
“That was my first difficult time. After that, the opportunity did not come again and Martinez lost his job.”
Then following the sacking of Ronald Koeman, David Unsworth, who Henen had a close bond with, took charge of the first-team on a temporary basis.
And one of the first moves Unsworth made was to promote Henen, with the winger once again being told to prepare for his senior debut.
“When Unsworth was named caretaker manager, he took me up to [the first-team] with him straight away,” the Belgium recalled.
"Two days before the Europa League game in Lyon, he took me aside and told me to be ready to play because I would play.
“I was very excited. The next day, I picked up an injury that ruled me out, which was so frustrating. I still think about it to this day. I think about it because I feel like it could and would have changed a lot of things.
“To play in those Europa League games [Everton hosted Atalanta under Unsworth three weeks later] would have been an opportunity to show my quality and everything I’d worked on in the Academy, so, when it wasn’t able to happen, I was very sad.
“I worked a lot and was desperate for the chance to show my ability. It was difficult to take.”
Sam Allardyce was the man chosen to take over from Koeman on a permanent basis and Henen believes his 'short-term' approach meant he was no longer going to be in his first-team plans.
He said: “I trained with the first-team a lot under Koeman and he showed me things and spoke well about me but then he lost his job.
“Then Sam Allardyce came in and had a short-term mission of winning points as quickly as possible, so I wasn’t in his plans.
“It was difficult because it felt like I was always so close to making my debut but there was always something in the way, or something would intervene and stop it from happening.”
Henen left Everton when his contract expired in June 2018, moving back home to Belgium to sign for RSC Charleroi.
And the winger has revealed that although it was a 'difficult' decision to leave the Blues, it was the right call to return home at that point in his career.
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“You know, I love Everton and I loved living in Liverpool - it really felt like my hometown at that point,” he said.
“The staff - and I hope the fans as well - knew how much I loved playing for Everton, so it was difficult when I had to make the decision to stay or leave.
“It took two to three months to make a final decision because it’s fine saying you want regular first-team football but I didn’t know if, when it came down to it, I wanted to leave for real.
“Unsy had told me he’d love to keep me but, after a lot of thinking, I decided I had to do it and I wanted to be closer to my family again. It had been a long time since I felt Belgium and, of course, I missed them.
Henen then concluded: “I had a lot of options after Everton but I really wanted to go back to be close to my family - because, when you leave a family like Everton, it is very difficult to go somewhere else.
“I knew I would have felt alone if I had gone anywhere else. You could try to find something like Everton - but it is impossible.
“So I knew the best thing for me would be to go back to my hometown and be close to my family. And that’s what I did.”
