Abdoulaye Doucoure: Everton Are My First Choice
Abdoulaye Doucoure wants to stay at Everton.
This article includes quotes from Toffee TV’s exclusive interview with Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure.
In an exclusive interview with Toffee TV, Abdoulaye Doucoure insists his priority is to remain with Everton beyond the end of his current contract.
Doucoure, who has been an integral figure since joining Everton from Watford in 2020, is out of contract next month.
As it stands, talks have not progressed on a new deal, with Doucoure previously hitting out at suggestions he should drop his wage demands in order to stay with the club.
In an intriguing, hour-long chat with Toffee TV, Doucoure reveals he wants to remain with Everton heading into their first season at the club’s new stadium.
“I would love to, to be honest,” Doucoure said when asked if he would be an Everton player next season.
“I would love to — I’m not joking. I would love to stay. I love the club. Nothing is in my hands anymore.
“I’m just waiting for the club to offer me that contract and I will see with my agent what the solution is going to be.
“But I would love to play for Everton, stay at the club and play at the new stadium.
“Obviously, the club didn’t trigger my contract in January, but in my mind I was always staying — it was an easy option to trigger for them. The new owners came in and want to do things on their own terms — I can understand, that’s not normal, as part of business. It was a little bit disappointing and a little bit surprised, because I really wanted to be sure to see the new stadium.
“But sometimes when things finish, maybe you can just take it and move on. I will have always been happy to have played for Everton. I will always be a Blue.
“Next season, the club wants to improve. I’ll never be against that, I want the competition. My role could change, I’m not young anymore but I still have my legs, I’m always going to fight to play. It’s something I’d have to accept.
“I think I deserve a new contract. I have to back myself. I never played for Everton for the money, and it will never be the case.
“Everton will always be my first choice, they are a massive club.”
Doucoure also discusses:
His relationship with Frank Lampard:
We had a great relationship [at the start]. I’m a box-to-box player, he was a box-to-box player. It was just great because he knew I could score goals, he liked my type of player. But the next season, he brought in a couple of players and he was just not fair with me in terms of competition because obviously we were losing a lot of games but I didn’t have my chance, so I wondered what was the problem.
We didn’t have a big fall out. I was very emotional, I was telling the [other] players, we had to change something, because I didn’t want to go down. Maybe he took it personally but I had to speak out, and I was not playing, so maybe my frustration boiled over. At the end of the day, I think the players understood me, and as soon as we changed manager you could see the difference.
I was close to leaving, but I never wanted to leave. If I don’t play, I need to play somewhere — may aim is always to play. When Sean Dyche came, and I played against Arsenal, I [think I] showed my commitment to the club.
Scoring a crucial goal against Bournemouth to keep Everton up:
We never wanted to bring Everton down. Sean was always saying, ‘Someone has to make the difference’. This was always in my head — any game I was playing. Scoring that goal to keep Everton up, it was unbelievable for me.
At half-time, we were panicking. Bournemouth were playing quite well. When I scored, I’d never heard something so loud. It was very tense, but it was just good to get over the line. It means a lot to me.
Where it went wrong under Sean Dyche this season:
Mentally, sometimes you get tired. You just want to give up — and I think it was happening to the team. Some players lost faith in the manager as well, and that effects the club and the change was needed.
Working under David Moyes:
I think David Moyes put Everton where they [were]. When he came in, it was like fresh air. He made a couple of changes but not too muchn — he just told the players to have more responsibility, you have to compete, have to perform or otherwise he will look for other players. So it was quite honest.
The training was better, with more quality — you could see the difference straight away.
The final game at Goodison Park:
He told us straight after the Fulham game, ‘Guys, this is the biggest game of our season’. He’s right. For the fans, for us as players, for some of us it might be the last game we play in front of [Everton] fans. We need to show the commitment to the shirt, the fans. We have to enjoy it. It’s a pleasure to play this kind of game. When we started the season, my aim was always to play in this last game. I never take it for granted, playing in the Premier League at a club like Everton.