Everton's new loan signing Royston Drenthe revealed that he turned down 'four or five' offers from European clubs to join the Toffees, one of which was from Portuguese giants Benfica.
The pacey winger, who is still contracted to Real Madrid, spent the summer searching for a new club after his season long loan at relegated La Liga outfit Hercules came to an end.
With a return to Madrid out of the question since his public falling with then manager bernd Schuster, Drenthe was pursued by at least five clubs during this transfer window.
But he admitted holding out until the very last minute so that a cut price deal could be struck in order to facilitate his first choice move to Merseyside.
Drenthe said: "It was quite a long wait, but finally it was a happy end and I'm really happy to be here.
"I told my agent that when I came back on loan from Hercules that the only thing I wanted is to go to England. If we didn't have that, I would have stayed in Real Madrid.
"He told me that we had interest from Everton but we had to wait until the very end, that was the only way we could make the deal with Real Madrid.
"Real wanted me to go to Benfica because they wanted to pay a lot of money.
"But I said "no, I don't want to go to Portugal", and I also didn't want to go to other clubs.
"He told me I had to wait until very death and that if I could hold out then I would be an Everton player.
"On the 31st he called me, told me to take my stuff and get the plane to Everton where you can sign with them. I was like, 'thank you God, thank you so much'.
"There was a lot of clubs interested in me, like four of five, but I didn't like them."
With the deal struck just in time, Drenthe said he is now looking forward to showcasing his skills in the league he considers the best in the world.
And the confident 24-year-old said Evertonians can look forward to his contributions when he finally pulls on the blue shirt.
He said: "Every year I have something to prove, I think a player with qualities like mine can never be scared to show that.
"This year I have something to prove, I'm playing for Everton and they can expect a lot from me."
--
Follow our breaking EFC news on Twitter, at http://twitter.com/clickEFC.
Also, get the views of our Everton correspondent Aaron Sharp, at http://twitter.com/aaron_sharp_
Post a comment