Manuel Fernandes explains Everton transfer decision after club could have got in 'big trouble'

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.

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