Mason Holgate revealed the mental reset from playing abroad has allowed him to change his perspective on his time in England.
The defender played his entire club career in his native country before moving to Qatari club Al Gharafa last summer.
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The Doncaster-born Jamaica international made his debut for Barnsley in 2014 and immediately won the club’s Young Player of the Year award.
A year later, Everton signed him for £2 million, with Holgate making over 150 appearances for the Toffees over the next decade.
But fitness and form problems, which were not helped by Everton’s coaching carousel, meant that he was repeatedly in the starting eleven.
Holgate is a natural central defender, but was regularly deployed on the right side and was even used as a defensive midfielder at times.
The 29-year-old made just eight appearances in his final full season at the club in 2022/23 before a series of loan spells.
Holgate had temporary spells at West Brom, Southampton and Sheffield United before finding a permanent home in Qatar.
“In the last few years at Everton I found it a bit difficult taking on loans and things like that and not really feeling at home anywhere,” he told The Pitch Prospect.com in an exclusive interview.
“When you’re in England there’s a lot of pressure.
“I was loaned out to Championship clubs after not having any real pre-season training in Everton and surrounding areas with the younger set-up and then going straight into the Championship games and not starting as well as I thought I would.
“I just felt a little bit, I would probably call it a little bit mentally exhausted, just a little bit worn out by it, because I just felt like I was being judged fairly enough, like you should.
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“I felt like everyone thought it was my fault the whole time.”
“In my opinion, I was judged based on a different expectation than everyone else who played,” he continued with SPORT.
“For example, I’m obviously a defender – when we get beaten I always felt like everyone thought it was my fault.
“I think looking back now it was definitely a privilege and something I 100 per cent miss, considering the fans in England are so passionate and everything.
“At the time, it just felt like I needed to kind of reboot after about two or three years of this happening.
“Of course, looking back, it’s a privilege to show that people would expect that of me and something that I expect of myself and that I would happily do again.”
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From Everton to Qatar
In Holgate’s final season as a Premier League player, he made headlines for attacking Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma with a red card.
Regrettably, the England U21 international later revealed that he had subsequently received “constant racist abuse” on his social media.
In one of his final games in English football, Holgate was criticized for “poor defending” in West Brom’s 1-0 defeat to Norwich in March.
But after following players like Roberto Firmino, Aleksandar Mitrović and Marco Verratti to Qatar, he was able to reinvent himself mentally.
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He told The Pitch Prospect: “It’s very drastic to say you’ve lost the love of football and people say it all the time, but it’s hard to get up and the weather isn’t great and you know you’re not performing as well as you should and you get up and do that every day and know what you’re capable of.”
“I was training well and then there was just an incident in the game where something happened and I was like, ‘How did this happen?’ Then suddenly it affects the whole game.
“I think it was a big thing for me to come here and be able to restart this.
“It probably gave me the confidence I needed to say I was good enough to reach the level expected of me.
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“It’s all live football in England. So I might play on a Saturday, we get beaten, I don’t shower myself with glory, and then I can’t fix it until the next Saturday when I’m still in the team.”
“Here, on the other hand, it’s a bit more relaxed, you go there, you play, and it’s easier to reset because you’re not walking down the streets and everyone is coming up to you and talking about it, or it’s not to the same extent as in England, where everything is just so microscopic, your friends talk to you about it, your family talks to you about it.
“In any case, it gave me a completely new look at the matter and a completely new perspective on the matter.
“And I feel like I’m definitely doing a lot better because of the experience I’ve had.”
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Career moment that Holgate still thinks about
Holgate still has many fond memories of his time at Everton, especially the great success in the 2022/23 season.
A 3-2 win over Crystal Palace – after coming from 2-0 down – ensured the Toffees were not involved in a dramatic shootout on the final day of the season to avoid relegationN
“Goodison – going in there, the scenes of the bus coming in and stuff like that, and in the end we turn the game 3-2.
“I just remember what it felt like in the dressing room at half-time. And then I think I did a header down and Keano [Michael Keane] scored, and then when Keano scored, it just felt like they kept going in and in and in and in.
“I can’t really remember the second half, but it was a great memory, especially the games before.
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“I think they’re the games you want to be part of. Of course you don’t want to be there because Everton are a huge club, you don’t want to be in the relegation battle, but games that mean so much towards the end of the season will always stay with you.”
“Especially if you come out on the right side like we did, I’ll never forget it because I personally feel like I contributed a lot before the final run at the end of the season.
“And that’s what I want to achieve as a footballer and what I think I’m capable of.”