Everton defender Ramiro Funes Mori has revealed that he asked to return to former club River Plate to regain fitness and make the Argentina World Cup squad.
The 19-times Argentina international enforcer has recently returned from a serious knee injury knee injury but is yet to appear for the Toffees first-team this season.
Funes Mori has now been out of action for around a year after his injury required surgery, and the 27-year-old has now revealed that he approached Sam Allardyce about a short-term return to former club River Plate.
As quoted by Argentine TV station TyC Sports, Funes Mori said: “I wanted to go back to River to regain fitness and get to the World Cup well, so I told my manager, but it was difficult, so it’s over and everything is fine.”
The centre-back joined Everton from River Plate in the summer of 2015 for a transfer fee of £11million, and has made 63 appearances for the club since then, scoring five goals.
OPINION
It is interesting to hear that Funes Mori requested a return to River Plate from Everton. While it is quite clear from his comments that the deal would only be a loan, it potentially opens the door to a future return to Argentina for the 27-year-old. He is obviously out of the picture currently at Goodison Park after his injury, and a return to the first-team is not something that he sees happening between now and the end of the season.