Exclusive: Everton Defender Mason Holgate Weighing Up Future After West Brom Loan Spell

Everton defender Mason Holgate hasn’t given up hope of extending his stay at Everton Stadium now former boss David Moyes has returned.

It was Moyes who signed Holgate for a bargain fee of £2million on a five-year deal from Barnsley.

Two years earlier Moyes had snapped up Holgate’s good pal John Stones from the South Yorkshire outfit, with both academy graduates having earnt the chance to play in the Premier League and beyond.

Manchester City ace Stones has blossomed into one of the world’s best defenders and won international acclaim.

And Holgate has also enjoyed top-flight football with the Toffees and also been capped by Jamaica, having been eligible to play for through his grandparents’ descent.

However, time is ticking down on any new deal – and Holgate’s runs out in June of this year.

The 28-year-old is flexible about his future with plenty of admirers, but he has a fondness for West Brom, the loan club where he has impressed since been given the chance to play regular football following his Goodison Park departure.

“Everybody wants to play Premier League football, there’s no two ways about that – it’s the best league in the world for a reason,” revealed Holgate, speaking exclusively to SportsBoom.

“Every game is so tough and exciting. I’ve been very lucky to have played in the Premier League for ten seasons.

“I was lucky enough to do that, but I feel as though it was also my hard work that put me in that position.

“Every game is so different, one week you’ll play against someone who is big and physical, then the next week you’ll play someone who is smart and ball-savvy, or then someone who has raw pace – or even all of them qualities.

“But it’s the big games that everyone wants to be involved in as a footballer, you want to be playing away at Old Trafford or playing against Manchester City or Liverpool.

“Everybody wants to be there, but it’s about earning my way back there personally.”

TOP-FLIGHT ASSAULT

Holgate joined the Baggies on loan in August last year, tasked with shoring up their defence for a top-flight assault.

And the Jamaican international defender has been a key figure with the club having been sitting pretty in the play-off places for much of this season.

They have recently slipped out and dropped to seventh in the standings, two adrift of sixth-placed Coventry City.

But with four league fixtures still to play, the Premier League dream is very much alive for Holgate and the Baggies.

“The quality we’ve got is there for everybody to see,” added Holgate, who has spent nearly a decade at Everton having been signed by former boss Moyes in August 2015.

“But you can’t just put it [the pressure] on the strikers to score the goals.

“It’s about getting the best balance we can. It’s about the whole team being able to attack and then defend when we need too.

“Some games are going to be more difficult than others, but it’s about getting that little bit of killer-mentality of knicking those tight games rather than drawing them.”

PROMOTION HOPES

Last season Holgate joined Sheffield United as the Blades battled to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

But despite their best efforts the South Yorkshire outfit were sunk and are now vying for promotion in the second tier with the Baggies.

“It was a difficult time when I was there,” reflected Holgate. “I joined in the January and unfortunately we didn’t manage to turn it around. 

“It was tough going, especially as a defender it’s hard when the team had no confidence and we were conceding a lot of goals.

“But Sheff Utd have done great this year, they’re flying. They’ve gone and got a lot of new players and keep a good group of players from last year, they’ve done really well.”