Holland star Kika van Es is ready to show her international calibre in an Everton shirt after everything "clicked" on her full debut against Manchester City a fortnight ago.

Van Es, a European Championship winner in 2017, joined from Ajax in July and is poised for her second Everton start when Willie Kirk’s team travel to Reading in WSL on Sunday (2pm).

The defender came to the Club following her involvement with finalists Holland at this summer's World Cup finals – but had to employ a degree of patience in pre-season as she recovered from an operation to cure a long-standing knee problem.

Van Es, who celebrates her 28th birthday on Friday, counts illustrious pair PSV Eindhoven and FC Twente among her former clubs. The classy defender moved to England alone and is playing her club football outside Holland for the first time.

“It was hard for me in England at first because of my injury,” Van Es told evertonfc.com.

“I couldn’t show the girls what I could do and they didn’t know me.

“But when I got on the field there was an immediate click with the team.

“It is hard when you’re not with your family because you would normally go home and talk about your day.

“It was difficult for me to talk about my feelings in the beginning – my English is not good enough to talk about how I feel on and off the field.

“So it was hard initially but progressively I felt better and now I feel great.”

Van Es – whose English is actually faultless – has 61 Holland caps after making her debut aged 18 in 2009 and was ever-present in her country’s triumphant home European Championship two years ago.

That success was especially sweet for the player after a double-leg fracture forced her to miss the World Cup in Canada two years earlier.

Van Es’s tricky relationship with the global competition continued this year.

She fractured a wrist after three minutes of a pre-tournament friendly against Australia and went under the knife in a race to be ready for the French finals.

Van Es started Holland's opening two games – wins over New Zealand and Cameroon – but was otherwise restricted to a last-16 substitute appearance against Japan.

Holland reached the final where they lost 2-0 to USA.

“It was a really hard period for me,” said Van Es.

“I had been out of the national team for a year because someone else took my spot.

“I got in the team two games before the World Cup but injured my hand and needed an operation.

“It was only a small surgery but it impacts your body.

“I played the first two games but did not really show what I could do.

“It was an issue with my hand, then in my mind – and I did not show everybody how good I was.

“But I am proud of the team because we were second in the world.

“My next objective was to show what I could at my new club but my knee did not work as well as I wanted, so it was hard.”

Van Es’s knee problem had plagued her since she returned from the serious leg injury which kiboshed her 2015 World Cup.

Her move to Everton as one of a handful of experienced internationals recruited by Kirk – including France midfielder Maeva Clemaron and Tinja-Riikka Korpela, the Finland goalkeeper formerly with Bayern Munich – was the catalyst for Van Es to address that knee issue once and for all.

“I knew if I went to Everton I would be training more and training harder,” says Van Es.

“We often train twice a day and I knew my body wouldn’t be able to manage that.

“In the World Cup it was worse than it’s ever been.

“I knew if I wanted to show the girls what I could do, I had to be 100 per cent, not 50 per cent.

“So we decided I needed an operation and would be back in six-eight weeks – then fit for three or four years.”

Everton were beaten by a goal from England captain Steph Houghton against City but travel to Reading aiming for a third win from their opening four league games this term after victories over Birmingham City and Bristol City last month.

“It is a really important game for us,” said Van Es.

“We only have two days as a team after the international break.

“We won twice without playing our best but I think we are improving every week.

“We have trained very hard and want that to translate into what we do on the pitch against Reading.”

For Van Es, this weekend’s contest in Berkshire represents the next stage of her mission to flourish in the league she views as the finest on the planet.

“My dream was always to come to England,” she says.

“I think it has the best competition [WSL] in the world. I want to play with and against the best players.

“When I had the opportunity to come to Everton it was an easy decision.

“In my first conversation with Willie he was clear we want to make big steps and improve on last year.

“A lot of girls who stayed from last season have a high level and are really talented. But they are young and we needed some experience.

“Me, Maeve and Tinja are older players and hopefully we can help the others.

“I am lucky to have Inessa [fellow Holland international Kaagman] already here, she can show me how everything works.

“And it was nice that Maeva came at the same time, so we could explore and learn about the Club together.

“We are a really talented team – and with that experience we’ve added, we can have huge ambitions.”