Jonas Lossl has told The Athletic that he felt he had the talent to replace Jordan Pickford as Everton’s number one when he sealed a free transfer from Huddersfield Town in 2019.

The Blues moved to snap up Lossl under the leadership of Marco Silva following the Terriers relegation to the second-tier, yet the 32-year-old never played a game for the Merseyside outfit.

Silva ensured that Lossl remained a constant understudy for Pickford and that picture did not change when the Portuguese was replaced at the helm by Carlo Ancelotti, who sanctioned a loan move back to the John Smith’s Stadium just six weeks into his tenure.

Lossl hoped that his return in the summer of 2020 would see Ancelotti offer him a chance at earning minutes at Goodison Park after the departure of Maarten Stekelenburg, but the arrival of Robin Olsen on loan from AS Roma saw an end to that.

“The situation at Everton was not for me,” Lossl claims. “I went with the expectation and hope of challenging Jordan Pickford and getting game time. Because of different situations, that didn’t happen. I thought all along I could go and get in front of Jordan. It was my chance to get into a team like that, but I didn’t take it.”

The arrival of Olsen a year later and Ancelotti favouring the Sweden international as Pickford’s understudy caught Lossl by surprise, and paved the way for his eventual exit on Deadline Day in February when he re-joined former side FC Midtjylland.

“Of course I was [surprised] and sad because they were changing me out,” Lossl added. “I didn’t expect that. If I’d known, I’d have tried to prevent it — if not get another move, then tell them not to do it because he took my place.

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“Robin came in how many hours before closing time? It was difficult [for me] to do something. I felt from the beginning that I did not want to be third-choice. I worked my *** off in autumn to try to prove that it was the wrong decision, and they should play me.

“We had a cup game the week before I left, so I went to Carlo and said: ‘Give me the chance to prove that I can play,’ but we had an honest conversation and they told me: ‘This is not the club for you and if you want to play, then we need to find a solution.’”

Lossl holds no ill-feelings for anyone for the way that his Everton career panned out, and is now back at the side where he began his career in Midtjylland, seven years after leaving the Danish club for EA Guingamp.

Yet minutes have not been overly forthcoming for the one-time Denmark international, with Lossl only playing the Ulvene’s last three Superligaen games before the international break after six appearances as an unused substitute.

There was a place on the bench for Lossl in 21 of Everton’s Premier League games during his 19-months at the club, with the shot-stopper finding even a back-up role hard to secure under Ancelotti who omitted him from 15 matchday squads.

The Italian ultimately made the right decision by telling Lossl to find a new side in the final stages of the winter market as Everton was “not the club for you”, as Ancelotti clearly did not rate the £2.5m-rated ‘keeper but has often sung the praises of Olsen.

Lossl’s disaster of an Everton career will see that he goes down in the record books as one of Silva’s flops, having failed to play a single second yet cost the Toffees just over £3m in wages.

Reports at the time of his arrival by Ekstra Bladet claimed Lossl signed a 100 million krona (£53.5k-p/w) three-year contract at Goodison Park, while Huddersfield covered his salary – thanks to a pay cut – during his 26-weeks back at the club on loan.

The money Everton flushed away through Lossl does not stop at his wages earned over 57 weeks on Merseyside, either, as the Blues reached a settlement agreement with the goalkeeper so that he could leave the club earlier this year.

Lossl will not be a player who lives long in the memories of Everton supporters for any other reason than failing to play a game for the club, and will hope to create better memories for Midtjylland in a battle with Brondby IF for the Superligaen title.

AND in other news, Everton can potentially save £13m by turning to this Max Aarons alternative…