Niasse eager to take chance to prove Everton wrong

Matt Stead

Hull’s on-loan forward Oumar Niasse says he harbours no ill-feeling towards Everton boss Ronald Koeman after being frozen out at Goodison Park.

But the 26-year-old, Everton’s third biggest signing when arriving from Lokomotiv Moscow for £13.5million in February last year, has vowed to prove the Dutchman wrong.

Niasse was brought to England by former Everton boss Roberto Martinez and when the Spaniard departed Goodison at the end of last season, Koeman wasted little time in telling him he did not feature in his plans.

Asked if he felt bitter towards Koeman, who made the Senegal international train with the club’s under-23s, Niasse said: “No, no way.

“I don’t have anything like that. He made his choice and I have to prove it wasn’t a good one.”

Niasse, who stepped off the bench to make his Hull debut in last week’s home win against Bournemouth after joining until the end of the season, made only seven appearances for Everton.

But he insists he has no regrets about joining the Merseyside club.

“No, never. Not at all,” he said.

“Everton gave me a big opportunity to play in the Premier League. It’s a big team also.

“I had a good time with people working there. I learned a lot of things at Everton, a lot of things.

“If I had to do it again, if they sent me there and I had to live there, I would do it again.”

Koeman told Niasse he was surplus to requirements after watching him for just 45 minutes in a pre-season friendly last summer, but the stunned striker did not even find out why.

“I didn’t ask,” he said. “He just told me what he had to tell me and I said ‘thank you’.

“It’s just a choice and he made his choice. I didn’t have anything to say. When someone tells you you’re not in his plans you just have to deal with it.”

Niasse had signed a four-and-a-half-year contract at Everton and opted not to head out on loan in the summer despite interest from overseas.

“Right now the most important thing for me is to focus on how to make it in the Premier League,” Niasse said.

“That’s my only focus. When the season has finished we’ll think about all these things, about what exactly happened.

“But to be honest, I’ll deal with that easily because that’s life and that’s football. Nothing more.

“I can’t be angry about Everton. He made his choice. I just have to prove what he thought about me wasn’t the real Oumar.”