“Like I said, I followed English football a lot back home,” he says. While he could not claim to recognise all the famous former players in the cathedral, he does have an awareness of Everton’s history, tradition and playing style under their current manager. Along with the rest of the Everton squad, Funes Mori attended Howard Kendall’s funeral on Thursday and was impressed by the way his new home city paid its respects to a football man. To be honest, I didn’t think I would break into the first team so quickly but as a footballer you have to be ready for these moments.”Įverton play Sunderland on Sunday seeking their first league win since September. I am here to adapt and learn, and so far I am enjoying it a lot. They said it would be faster and more intense than I was used to, and it is, but I don’t mind that. “Mostly for the fish and chips, actually, but they said I would have no problems with English football. Having just broken into the Argentina team he was able to ask Martín Demichelis and Pablo Zabaleta of Manchester City about life in the north-west.

“For me this is the best league in Europe, playing in it is a dream come true.”įunes Mori nevertheless sounded out a few fellow Argentinians on the advisability of a move to England. “As a kid I always watched the Premier League, so when Everton came in for me I had no doubts,” he says. Ramiro stayed longer at River Plate and stayed focused on England. Rogelio moved first, but a spell at Benfica did not work out and after a period on loan in Turkey he moved to his present club, Monterrey in Mexico. “He never got a contract with FA Dallas and we wanted to play professionally, so we went back to Argentina when we were 16 years old.”īoth imagined they would one day move on from Argentina to Europe and both did, just not together. “Rogelio won and nothing happened,” he says. The prize for winning was supposed to be an MLS contract, though it did not work out quite like that. Along with his identical twin brother, Rogelio, he gained a degree of fame in the United States by taking part in a football reality show built around young players trying to break into the big time. When I screamed I heard myself, and so did the rest of the ground.”įunes Mori speaks in fluent English, a result of spending his teenage years in Texas, where his father moved to work as a mechanic. So in the last derby it felt like it was 45,000 people versus 11.

For that reason, they don’t allow away supporters at games any more, there is too much trouble and fighting. “People are crazy about it, and sadly there have been fatalities. “What you have to understand about football in Argentina is that it is life and death,” he explains. An experience, he says, that allowed him to remain reasonably calm about making his Goodison debut against Chelsea then appearing in the Merseyside derby.

This 24-year-old is not just a veteran of the superclásico derby between River Plate and Boca Juniors, he actually scored the winning goal for River Plate in his last one. The chance may have come slightly sooner than he expected or wished but it is unlikely to faze him. Whatever they choose to call him Everton supporters had better get used to their new defensive recruit, because with Phil Jagielka out for two months Funes Mori is in for a prolonged run in the first team.

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