This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Player view’ series, this content strand is where we put ourselves in the shoes of a given player, and offer an opinion-based outlook on the perspective on the situation at hand…
Everton are reportedly set to recall goalkeeper Joao Virginia after his failed loan move to Championship side Reading.
He has appeared just three times for the Royals this season and will have hoped to have had more game time at the club.
Virginia has been criticised highly for his performances at the club, and made key mistakes during the fixtures that he appeared in. In his last game for the club, he let the ball fall through his hands from a tame effort that was outside the box against Wolves in the Carabao Cup.
It was an awful mistake to make and ended up costing Reading a place in the next round. Since, he hasn't made an appearance and after the first two Championship games that Virginia played, Reading brought in a new goalkeeper in Rafael Cabral.
It's set to be an interesting time for the goalkeeper, but he'll be hoping that Everton see enough in him to loan him out again or keep him on at the club.
After this quite disastrous loan spell, he'll probably be worried about his future at the Premier League but his poor season may come down to the mental side of the game. It's interesting that he was one of the best players for Everton's under-23 side, but as soon as he played in front of a first-team crowd he looked very shaky.
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If he does get recalled to go back on loan to a lower league side then he has to make sure that the next chance he gets, he takes. It's such an important time in his career, and he won't want any more set-backs otherwise as a goalkeeper you can find your future disappearing very quickly.
Full credit for standing up after his mistakes and taking the blame from angry supporters, but he was not up to the level of the Championship so there's no doubt that Everton have to think about his long-term future.