Mason Holgate has opened up on the conversations with Marcel Brands which convinced him staying at Everton was the right move last summer.
The defender spent the second half of the 2018/19 season on loan with West Bromwich Albion after falling out-of-favour at Goodison Park.
Upon his return, he found himself as the third choice of three senior centre-backs at the club alongside Yerry Mina and Michael Keane.
But the 23-year-old came on leaps and bounds across the last campaign to establish himself as one of Everton's most important players.
And the defender has described how constant discussions showed Brands always had faith in him, including talks with the director of football last summer.
Holgate told evertonfc.com : “It has been very difficult at times and I thought I was going to have to leave and start afresh to get playing.
“I spoke to Marcel before going to West Brom and I did the same at the start of the season because I thought I would have to go out to play games.
“I have made clear for the past two years I just want to play football. I felt I needed to get my point across and show I wanted more than to be filling up a space here.
“But I am glad I stayed with it and the club stayed with me. Marcel has always shown faith in me."
Since breaking into the side on a regular basis once more in October 2019, Holgate has progressed hugely.
The defender is now one of the key members of the Everton squad and a fan-favourite the club will be looking to build around in the future.
And he believes the improvement he has shown over the past few months has been down to lots of hard work on one particular aspect of his game - combating a criticism that has followed him for some time.
“I concentrate on myself and those are things I should be doing as a given," he added.
“I have worked really hard on the defensive side of my game since I started at Everton. I always felt I had ability on the ball, it was the defensive side I wanted to improve.
“It is pleasing people are starting to notice that side of my game.
“I see myself as a ball-playing centre half but with a lot of those types of players, it is easy to say, ‘He’s good on the ball but can’t defend’.
“That followed me around in my early years. It is something I’ve worked really hard on, so people couldn’t level that at me.
“The first job is defending and you have to nail down that part of your game before you can play.”
