Blues Swoop For MartinaEverton's "big ambition" sees them land international defender.Cuco Martina has revealed that the “big ambition” displayed by Everton was the major reason behind his decision to sign a three-year contract with the Club.
The 27-year-old became the Blues’ latest recruit of the summer transfer window on Monday afternoon, after joining on a Bosman following the expiry of his contract at previous side Southampton.
The right-sided defender once again links up with Ronald Koeman, with whom he worked for a year during his time at St Mary’s.
“Everton is a big club with big ambitions and I'm really looking forward to joining this group of players and the manager as we try to step forward next season,” Martina told evertonfc.com.
“Obviously, I know the manager from my time at Southampton, so I know what he wants and he knows what I can do.
“Everton supporters are really passionate about their Club and everyone's excited about where the Club is aiming. You can see this is a club that wants to achieve something and the players we are bringing certainly show this.
“When you come to a new club, you need to get to know one another so the training camp in Holland will be great for me and for the other new players as well. We will play against Twente, one of my old clubs too, and I'm really looking forward to showing everyone what I can do.”
Everton manager Koeman believes Martina’s ability to play in several positions will be a valuable asset to the Blues.
“Cuco Martina is an experienced player who can perform in different positions at the back, which is important,” Koeman said.
“It's also important, with the number of games we will face in the coming campaign, that we have strength and competition in the squad.
“I brought the player to Southampton, so I know what he can do for us here and this is why I've now brought him to Everton. He is a player who will strengthen our squad and be able to play in different positions when that's needed, too.”
Having played his youth football at Dutch giants Feyenoord, right-back Martina broke through at RBC Roosendaal before playing under Everton assistant manager Erwin Koeman at RKC Waalwijk.
Switching to Twente, he spent two years with the Dutch side before heading to St Mary’s in 2015. He made 36 appearances over two seasons at Southampton, scoring his solitary goal in a 4-0 win over Arsenal when bending a long-range strike beyond Petr Cech.
Having made his debut against the Dominican Republic back in 2011, Martina has amassed 30 caps for the Caribbean nation of Curaçao and he recently became captain of his national team.
Everton FC