From the moment Morgan Schneiderlin walked through the doors of Everton’s Finch Farm training ground in early January, something seemed to click.After a frustrating 18-month spell along the M62 at Manchester United, the Frenchman was hungry for a new challenge, a chance to get his Premier League career back on track.
“I want to leave my print on this Club,” he declared upon putting pen to paper on the four-and-a-half-year deal that reunited him with his former Southampton manager Ronald Koeman - and he quickly set about coming good on his word.
Following a 25-minute debut against Manchester City - a period in which Everton scored twice to complete a remarkable 4-0 win - the 27-year-old went on to make a further 13 appearances in which the Blues suffered defeat just twice - away at Tottenham and away at Arsenal.
In total, the Blues won nine of his 14 matches between January and May, comfortably securing the seventh-place finish that would end the Club’s two-season hiatus from European competition.
From the moment Morgan Schneiderlin walked through the doors of Everton’s Finch Farm training ground in early January, something seemed to click.
After a frustrating 18-month spell along the M62 at Manchester United, the Frenchman was hungry for a new challenge, a chance to get his Premier League career back on track.
“I want to leave my print on this Club,” he declared upon putting pen to paper on the four-and-a-half-year deal that reunited him with his former Southampton manager Ronald Koeman - and he quickly set about coming good on his word.
Following a 25-minute debut against Manchester City - a period in which Everton scored twice to complete a remarkable 4-0 win - the 27-year-old went on to make a further 13 appearances in which the Blues suffered defeat just twice - away at Tottenham and away at Arsenal.
In total, the Blues won nine of his 14 matches between January and May, comfortably securing the seventh-place finish that would end the Club’s two-season hiatus from European competition.
In that time, he would maintain a 90-per-cent pass success rate - higher than any Everton player in the second half of the campaign - and contribute an average of 2.1 interceptions per outing - a number bettered only by Idrissa Gana Gueye.
“I’m not surprised by Schneiderlin’s level because I know the player,” said Koeman after one particularly impressive performance at home against Sunderland in February. “He needed game-time to get into his rhythm but he’s such a good player and he showed that in all aspects of football today - in his pressing, his tackles and his comfort on the ball.
“It is good because you need a strong midfield with competition. We are happy that we have Schneiderlin in now. He is a big signing for Everton.”
Ashley Williams was impressed, too.
"He's always in the right place at the right time, he works hard, he's a good cover in front of us as defenders, he takes it very seriously and he's another experienced player to have in the dressing room, which is always good,” added Schneiderlin’s grateful colleague following the 2-0 defeat of the Black Cats. "He's settled in well, he's tried to be involved straightaway, the lads like him and he's a popular member of the squad.”
A fortnight later, the plaudits continued as the France international netted his first Everton goal in a 3-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion.
Sauntering on to a pass from Romelu Lukaku, two exquisite touches took Schneiderlin around Jake Livermore before, with a surgeon’s precision, he clipped the ball past the despairing Ben Foster with the outside of his boot.
The only blight on the midfielder’s first five months on Merseyside was a calf injury, sustained in a 4-0 win over Hull City, that forced him to miss two key fixtures - what would of been his first Merseyside derby and a return to his former stomping ground, Old Trafford.
“I want to play every game and I missed two important matches, but that’s the life of a footballer,” he later said. “I had to get over it and do the right things to get back as quickly as possible.
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