Asmir Begovic names Everton staff member who is ‘one of best in business’ amid bold claim

Asmir Begovic has opened up on the ‘difficult’ two years he spent at Everton.

The goalkeeper has opted to depart the Toffees at the end of his contract despite being offered a new deal. Begovic moved to Goodison Park on a free transfer from AFC Bournemouth in the summer of 2021 to serve as deputy to Jordan Pickford.

The former Chelsea stopper made a total of 10 appearances for Everton - who narrowly avoided Premier League relegation in both seasons he spent at the club.

Begovic served under three different managers on Merseyside - Rafa Benitez, Frank Lampard and Sean Dyche. The Blues also had financial troubles while fans’ relationship with the board of directors was also fractured.

But Begovic, speaking to talkSPORT at the weekend, reckons that Everton deserve to be a top-10 club down the line.

He said: “Certainly difficult. When I go back two years, people say: 'Why in the world chose Everton?'. It's easy to say now but at the time, you were looking at a fantastic football club with a fantastic group of players.

“When you get in there, you realise there are bigger issues. We obviously had some financial issues and a lot of inconsistency people running the place so that makes it very difficult for the staff and the players. One thing I can be proud of is no matter how many people wrote us off or the negativity around the place, we stuck together as a group and players and staff and got the job done.

“By no means is it a success. Everton Football Club and having seen it first hand - the size of it, the tradition, the fan base - they need to be a top-10 Premier League club and there's no doubt about it. There is obviously a bit of a way to go before that can happen once again but I think that's what they deserve to be.”

Everton made the decision to hire Dyche as manager at the end of January as he succeeded Lampard.

Despite having limited resources available, the former Burnley chief successfully guided the Toffees to top-flight safety in 2022-23. He inherited a side that was 19th, two points adrift of staying up and low on confidence.

Begovic reckons that Everton are in ‘good hands’ under Dyche and his backroom staff - while he lavished praise on goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly.

He added: “First and foremost, he was probably the right appointment at the right time. He's a great guy and someone who I got on really well with. He has a certain presence, certain way of working - discipline, hard-working, back to basics - and it's what we needed. He does it really well and there were certain players who took to that and that's what gave us the certain success we had.

“He's got a great staff with him. Ian Woan and Steve Stone took most of the sessions and tried to carry over his message. They're a great team, really great people then from my point of view, you have your own little group. We had Alan Kelly, goalkeeping coach, who is one of the best in the game and one of the best in the business.

“A great group, really good staff and they're in great hands going forward.”