Holgate On Setbacks Which Inspired Surge In Form

Mason Holgate says an enduring battle for Everton first-team recognition formed a critical part of his development into a key Goodison Park figure.

Centre-back Holgate joined Everton from Barnsley aged 18 in August 2015 and 12 months later made his Premier League debut, against Tottenham Hotspur, on the season’s opening day.

He would feature 21 times in all competitions across 2016/17, equalling that number of appearances the following campaign and playing five times at the start of 2018/19 before switching to West Bromwich Albion on loan for the second half of last season.

Holgate fixed himself in the middle of Everton’s defence this term after waiting until October to begin a league match.

And the 23-year-old insists learning the hard way about the incessant demands of top-level football fed into his assured run of form prior to football's coronavirus-enforced shutdown in March.


“My early years at Everton were hard because I’d come in for a few games, play very well, drop off for a game, then I was out the team,” Holgate told Everton's matchday programme.

“I’ve had to deal with harder things in life than not playing football – but being out the team was the most difficult thing I’ve experienced in the game.

“I don’t hold anyone responsible for it, certainly not the other managers we’ve had.

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“I would go in for a few games, then not play well, so I couldn’t expect them to keep playing me.

“It wasn’t me blaming anyone. I just found it hard to deal with.

“Going on loan taught me how to play every week – you can’t gain consistency if you’re not consistently playing.

“Now, if I’ve had a game where I’ve not done well, I don’t get too caught up in it. I just try to put it right in the next one.

“I am benefiting from the manager [Carlo Ancelotti] giving me an opportunity to show what I can do and I hope the team is, too.”

Holgate’s brisk progress this season was noted beyond the confines of Goodison Park with the defender’s name increasingly aired in connection with potential England honours.

But if his international claims remain the subject of conjecture, Holgate’s club future is set in stone.

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09:51 Mon 15 Jun 2020

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In the midst of starting 23 of Everton’s past 24 matches he signed a deal back in March to keep him at Everton until at least summer 2025, when Holgate will be 28.

Holgate appreciates the gravity of committing to Goodison for a share of the peak years of his career – and insists his desire to stay long-term is grounded in the Club’s hunger for success under Italian boss Ancelotti.

“I want to win something at Everton,” added Holgate, who is preparing for his first action in more than three months when the Blues host Liverpool on Sunday.

“I wouldn’t have signed [the new deal] if I thought we couldn’t.

“I don’t understand why anyone would play football to muddle along.

“I want to play and to win things and with the team we are building, we are more than capable of doing that.

“If we weren’t, I don’t understand why I’d want to play here.

“What would I get out of turning up every week and going through the motions and not playing for anything?

“We are playing to win things.

“I hate losing and if everyone has that mentality it is going to be a good few years at Everton.”

Mason Holgate was speaking exclusively to Everton's matchday programme for an in-depth interview which will feature in the Club's first Behind Closed Doors edition.

Read Holgate's full interview in the 68-page issue for Sunday's Merseyside derby, which also includes Carlo Ancelotti's first programme notes since Manchester United visited Goodison Park on 1 March and exclusives with Davide Ancelotti, Everton's assistant manager, and former Blues centre-half Alan Stubbs.

Fans can order the programme now by clicking here. The programme is priced at £3.50 plus postage costs.