Manuel Fernandes has opened up on his exit from Everton, claiming he never wanted to leave the club. And, he believes he couldn't reach his potential anywhere else because he didn't sign permanently for the Blues.
The midfielder spent the second half of the 2006/07 season on loan on Merseyside from Benfica, having spent the first portion of the campaign elsewhere in the Premier League with Portsmouth. The Portugal international instantly won his fans over with his unique and exciting qualities in the centre of the pitch as he put in a number of strong performances.
However, rather than sign for the club permanently the following summer, Fernandes instead joined Valencia - before another brief loan spell with the Blues in 2008. But the former Everton man, who now plays for Apollon Smyrnis, believes that it didn't work out for him with the Spanish side because he didn't move to Merseyside permanently.
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He told Obstructed View : "I genuinely think that one of the reasons it didn’t work out for me in Valencia, and I never showed my true potential, is because I never really got over the fact that I didn’t sign for Everton. I was young, and I don’t think my mental health was in the right place, and much of that was because I wasn’t at the place I felt I wanted to be. Everything at Everton just ‘made sense’, the club, the players, the fans. I just identified so well with the club.
"I am not going to say I have regrets about going to Spain, because I learnt a lot there too, I don’t have any regrets about my career, but as far as I was concerned, at that time, there was only one place I wanted to be, that was Everton."
The summer of 2007 had many links between Fernandes and Everton on a permanent basis after a promising loan spell, which had seen him bag two goals in nine Premier League appearances for his temporary side. However, he instead completed a switch to Valencia, which caused some bad blood in some quarters on Merseyside.
Now the midfielder wants to clarify that he did in fact want to move to Everton, after turning down the chance to go to Man City. And, in fact, he was once training with the Blues when it could have got them into "big trouble".
He added: “Honestly, I really don’t know. I mean that, please believe me when I say this. It was certainly not because I didn’t want it, I have heard people say that a few times over the years and that is simply not true. I went against my club to make the deal happen. The club that gave me my debut, the club that made me a professional footballer. I was at Benfica since I was 8 years old, I owe them everything, but I went against them because I wanted to play for Everton.
"I had spent six months on loan at Portsmouth, and then I spent six months on loan at Everton. The loan at Everton went really well, but then I had to go back to Benfica, because I was their player. I actually had the chance to go to Manchester City, Sven Goran Eriksson called me personally, but I was very clear in my mind, that there was only one place I wanted to be, and that was back at Everton. I had given my word to David Moyes.
"Actually, I will be honest, people inside Everton know this, but I actually spent a week training with Everton, when I shouldn’t have been there. I was a Benfica player, I was not on loan at Everton anymore, and the club could have got in big trouble.
"Benfica had a Champions League qualifier coming up, the manager at the time, Fernando Santos, he did not want me to leave, and he wanted me to play in that game. David Moyes called me, and he told me ‘If you play in this game for Benfica, I won’t be able to register you with UEFA. You are going to be important for us in Europe’.
"So, I missed the game, I didn’t go. It was a big issue, and Benfica were not happy at all. I was clear that I wanted to go back to Everton though, so I had to force the issue. I went back over to Everton, and I was training with the squad, even though I was a Benfica player. We had to keep it secret, because obviously that wasn’t allowed. They even closed off the training ground, so that nobody would find out I was there. I was there right up until the end of August, waiting for them to sort out the situation.
"Then when it didn’t happen, I had no choice but to go back. Then Valencia came in…"
Two highlights of Fernandes' first loan spell at Everton came against Manchester United and Arsenal, both at Goodison Park. The former saw the midfielder score a fantastic goal from outside the box to put his side 2-0 up at the time, while the latter was arguably his strongest performance in a royal blue shirt.
The former Portugal international continued: “I remember the game against Man Utd, obviously we lost 4-2, after being 2-0 up, but the atmosphere was amazing. The noise inside Goodison Park when I scored was unbelievable, I am getting goosebumps just thinking about it now!
"That is definitely one of my favourite goals in my career. To be honest, I didn’t play well in that game, the only thing I did good was score! But I will never forget that goal, and the noise and the celebrations from the fans. Unbelievable. Micky (Arteta) gave me the pass, I shifted the ball away from Wes Brown, and then hit it really well past Van Der Sar.
"The Arsenal game - We won that game 1-0, we played very well that game. I was playing with so much confidence at that time, I always thought one of my best attributes was that I was very good on the ball. My main concentration in that clip is just about keeping the ball for my teammates, when the ball was with me it had to be safe keeping for my team. That was the rule.”
