I expected to make Everton transfer before Sean Dyche decision changed my life

Abdoulaye Doucoure has credited Everton manager Sean Dyche with changing his life after falling out of favour under Frank Lampard

Abdoulaye Doucoure credits the arrival of Sean Dyche at Everton with changing his life.

The 31-year-old had been frozen out of first team duties under Frank Lampard, under whom he says “he lost his pleasure in football”.

Dyche immediately pushed the midfielder into his first team and saw his faith repaid as Doucoure became Everton’s most influential player in what was a successful fight against relegation.

Out of favour and with fewer than six months left on his contract, Doucoure feared his Everton career was over in January 2023. The previous summer he had expressed his ambition to earn a new contract so he could stay at the club he had fallen in love with while talking to the ECHO during the pre-season trip to the US.

Fast forward to the aftermath of the World Cup and the former Watford player’s dream was in tatters. Asked this week whether he thought his time on Merseyside was over, he said: “Yes, of course. My contract situation was not resolved, I had a couple of issues with the ex-manager here, in terms of football and playing, so when you don’t play and have one year left I think there are not many options.

“I was thinking my time at Everton was over but to be honest I never wanted to finish that way because I feel very good here, I didn’t want to get a move to ‘get a move’, I think this is a good club for me, a good platform, I am not too young anymore so I think it is important to settle somewhere. Then with the new manager and everything, he changed everything – he changed my life.”

Doucoure did not speak to Dyche about his issues under Lampard but sensed an opportunity had opened up for him. The new boss threw him straight into the line-up for his first game in charge, the home win over Arsenal, and the player did not look back. Doucoure grew to become Everton’s most valuable attacking asset, his goals at Nottingham Forest and Chelsea, where he also create Ellis Simms’ strike, earning crucial draws before his first minute goal at Brighton and Hove Albion, the first of two for him at the Amex, set his team on course for the shock 5-1 win that brought survival into the club’s own hands with just weeks to go.

The former Mali international then scored the goal that kept Everton up – the winner against Bournemouth on the last day of the season that he counts as the highlight of his career. But that bank holiday afternoon on the south coast was particularly satisfying. He said: “The Brighton game was a very important game. I scored two goals. It was a game where everyone was saying that Brighton were flying at the time. It was a very important game to win because it gave us so much confidence, and I think people saw my importance in the team at the time, it was not just that I scored but my contribution to the team. I think that game showed everything.”

Doucoure has since had time to reflect on how last season unfolded and believes he learned a lot about himself, as well as proving his resilience. His response to the lowest point of his Everton career was to write his name into club folklore. He said: “In football you always have something to prove to people – to the manager, to your teammates. I am a great example of resilience because I never give up. You can hit me 10 times and I will stand up 11 times, this is my mentality. I am like this with everything in my life and it was a great experience for me and it gave me more confidence, it showed me how you can be good and overcome all the situations, it is something I learned and I hope it is something this season that I can help the team with as well.”

Doucoure earned an extension with that form, which he carried into this season and was quickly rewarded again with an additional year. It may not have been achieved how he imagined it, but he has largely secured the extra years at Everton he was hoping to earn back in the summer of 2022. His six goals this season were central to the run of form before Christmas that suggested Everton may have been able to avoid a relegation fight even with the deductions.

Goals came in wins at Brentford and Crystal Palace, home victories over Bournemouth, Chelsea and Newcastle United as well as the draw at Sheffield United. Everton’s season was undermined by the record Premier League winless streak that has combined with deductions totalling eight points to leave the club with some nervous nights ahead. That run without a win coincided with Doucoure picking up the first of two hamstring injuries since he was pulled off at Burnley before Christmas – what was the last win in the league for four months before success in the reverse fixture last weekend.

Doucoure may have to play a role again to help the club avoid the drop. As he prepares to make an impact again, he looked back on how he managed to extend his form into an incredible 12 months last year. Doucoure said: “I think I had great momentum. I had not played for six months before so I had that anger just to play. For some time with Frank Lampard I lost my pleasure to play football… He [Dyche] helped me a lot. I just said I do not want this to happen again, I need to be good to stay in the line up, to get in the starting eleven and to play as much as I can.”