“I knew my team-mates. I knew the club, I knew how to work with this situation and I think, for the last four-and-a-half years, I did a good job.

“I would never criticise David Moyes because he gave me my chance in England: I played under him nearly every game [at Everton].

“When Van Gaal arrived, it was a new change. He didn’t know English football, he didn’t know certain players and he didn’t know me too.

“I had to train harder to prove to him that he could count on me and that’s what I did. When he arrived, he said to me: ‘I don’t count on you. You are my third, fourth, fifth choice’ and I said to him: ‘No problem, I’ll get training.

“In my head, I was saying: ‘Let’s train and we will see in the end what happens.’ After that, [within] one week, 10 days, maximum two weeks, I started to play.”

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