Neal Maupay has opened up on his ‘really difficult’ spell at Everton.
The French striker moved to Goodison Park last summer but produced just one goal in 32 appearances for the club before rejoining Brentford on loan.
But Maupay’s temporary departure from the Blues is likely to become a permanent one after recently opening up on his struggles on Merseyside.
In an interview with Sky Sports, the 27-year-old claimed that he does not wish to return due to encountering problems while with Sean Dyche’s side.
He said: “I’m not one who is going to find excuses, I just think we as players weren’t good enough – myself included.
“It was pretty clear after a couple of months that we were fighting for our lives, so there was no big expectation apart from saving the club.
“Then we changed manager, we changed system and there was a lot of stuff going on at the club, so that didn’t help.
“But, at the end of the day, we are on the pitch and we had to do the job.
“We got it done in the end and it wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t a nice place to be because, on the last game, we needed a win and we scored literally at the end of the game, otherwise we would have been down.
“As a striker, you need confidence, you need to score goals and I didn’t. I scored in my second game at Goodison and I thought it could be a good season, but for multiple reasons, it didn’t work out.
“I didn’t play much, but when I was on the pitch, I wasn’t the best version of myself. I didn’t find my best form.
“I’m always honest and tell the truth; last season, I didn’t enjoy myself. I didn’t enjoy my football and life up there was tough.
“The people around the club, the fans, made my life really difficult.”