 Welcome to Toffee TV. We are here at Clare House Hospice as Everton players Amadou, Onana and Azmiah Begavitch. Come and spread some Christmas cheer and surprise the kids today as they have their Christmas party. Let's go in. Azmiah, welcome to Toffee TV. Well thanks for having me. What's it feel like coming to somewhere like Clare House just before Christmas and you know spreading the joy that you do? Well I think it's always a special experience. I mean I know that we're in a very fortunate position that we can come here and spread a bit of joy, see the kids, see the parents, probably a bit of a difficult time for them. So if we can spin it in any sort of positive way, spread a bit of positive festive cheer then you know it's something we do with great pleasure. There's obviously a lot of pressure surrounding football and certainly nowadays with all the external forces. Does this bring your dance of air for a little bit and show the reality of what the world's really like? Oh absolutely you know we get caught up in a little football bubble at times. You're right and when you come here and you see the families that are coming you know going through a bit of a difficult time it's very humbling for us as individuals and I think for you know for society in a collective. So it's a great thing to do. It's really nice seeing smiles on the faces especially the kids you know and hand out some presents and like you said it's a very special humbling experience. Yeah it's been it's been a strange season hasn't it? Just the way the calendar's fallen this season, the World Cup is just finished. How do you look at the whole season so far? You know it's been a few ups and downs, how's it been for you yourself? Yeah I think for me individually ups and downs you know obviously I've got my role to play. I always enjoy playing when I get called up upon and otherwise you know support Jordan push him help the team in any way that I can but overall as a collective it's been yeah it's probably an ups and downs as you rightly say I think we obviously had a difficult week heading into the break which left a bad taste in our mouth and obviously something we have to correct so but because it's been a little bit stop-start we're looking forward to real you know big round of games now and hopefully push ourselves in the right direction. Was having the World Cup in the middle of the season a little bit of a distraction in terms of you couldn't quite focus on the whole season knowing that that was coming up in November into December and there was going to be that huge gap in the middle of it. Is that sort of curtailed any kind of potential momentum that we got a little bit earlier than you know you mentioned that week before the season stopped? Yeah well it was always playing on the back of people's minds and I'm sure for the lines they were pushing to get into squads or involving squads it's in the back of your mind so maybe you're playing with that on your mind which of which will affect things it's definitely been a different sort of year we're not we're not used to this sort of break and it's the first I've known of it really in 20 years of playing in England besides the Covid break so it's been strange but I think we're looking forward to getting back at it on Boxing Day and and pushing on. You obviously travelled down to Australia you went to America in the summer as well unfortunately picked up an injury what was that like going to see obviously Everton fan bases in two different parts of the world you know other than obviously Merseyside in the UK? Well we were in America obviously last summer in the summer and you know we saw our fan base in America and that's always very very special and it's amazing to see how how much the game has grown and obviously the the reach that Everton has sometimes we don't quite realize that being here but I think Australia really blew my mind I mean honestly to go over there to go that far away and then again Celtic in particular to see so many Everton fans was pretty was pretty mind-blowing really and really special and obviously shows how big this club is and the amazing fan base we have all around the world so they're able to see them in the flesh and live in action and it was really really nice and something that I think was really special for all of us. Obviously we've seen a few kids you know coming through during the Australia trip how welcoming is that to the team and how much of a refresh does having young players coming through in the squad benefits everybody else? Yeah it's good I mean if you look over the years even before I joined the club Everton was quite known for bringing their own players through and that's something they took a lot of pride in and I think there's just in general I think there's better alignment in the club I think from top down with with management director football manager and you can see now there's a pathway and a really way a better way of working and that obviously takes time to build and you can see kind of now that work starting to really pay off and I'm sure some of these kids will have a bright future and hopefully many of them in an Everton shirt. Did you watch much of the World Cup obviously just finished? Well I watched as much as I could obviously we were in Australia for the first part which was difficult and then when you're at home with the family you know you want to try and spend as much time as you can with them but certainly the last couple of weeks once we got to the knockout stages I watched a lot of the games and and I thought it was a really fascinating World Cup obviously topped off with you know an amazing final. What did you think of Jordan Pickford's performances because obviously in the last I think three turns for England he's done really really well but obviously what's your view as being a professional goalkeeper? Same again same again honestly I think he was he was faultless he was really clean in his performance did everything that was asked of him to do and pretty much all he's done ever since he's played for England really provided that solid consistent presence for that team obviously he's becoming now a bit more of a senior player so I think he's he's playing a big role in that dressing room as well so you know I was impressed with Jordan but nothing that I wouldn't have expected anyway. There's a bit of a strange debate around Jordan isn't there? He is absolutely fantastic. By who? By who? Well certain people just don't sort of have him down as being a top-class goalkeeper but for me he's proved that he is a top-class goalkeeper. Yeah I mean we don't pay too much attention to some of those outside world you know it's too much going on to focus on on daily basis but having worked you know so closely with Jordan now first hand obviously one we've become good friends but two yeah you see the quality and I think his performances he was player the year last year everything he's done this year and over the many years you know what he's done for England everything playing at this level it's not something that you could you can take lightly and take for granted and I think he's done a great job and you know he's a top level goalie. And obviously we saw the final this weekend Messi capping off a absolutely wonderful career where do you rank him amongst the greats of football? Oh gosh I mean I always find those those questions difficult um players goalkeepers you know how do you rank people there's no criteria there's no formula calculation for it is there so but he's right up there Messi I mean it was special to see him get that sort of last trophy that was missing for him really and obviously the Copa America as well in last couple years it's really come together for him with the national team that was the one thing probably he always said that was missing from his career he wanted that success with the national team and to see the performance he put in this whole tournament obviously yesterday scoring that you know crucial goal for them as well and then independently shootouts so yeah really special you know I think a great career and he's right up there with the best and obviously the World Cup was in Qatar somewhere new but in four years time or three and a half years time it's going to be in North America it's going to be in Canada now which you're looking forward to seeing you know Canada getting a little bit of the action. Amazing well deserved I think they've got two two cities Toronto, Vancouver um it's always a good show whenever anything's in North America so I'm sure this this this World Cup is not going to be any different um but looking forward to it Canada deserves it they've invested a lot and really worked hard over the last 20 or so so years to get Canada back on the map and obviously that was highlighted by their participants in the participation in the last World Cup so they're growing they're getting better and I'm sure they're looking forward to being one of the hosts. Yeah it should be should be really exciting on that one and in terms of ever now obviously we're coming back on Boxing Day Wolves and how much are you looking forward to the second half of the season and having that continuous run now to the end of the season and you know obviously we know there's not going to be any stoppages now. Yeah really really much so I think again we had a long summer and the fact that our squad wasn't really ready until September and we didn't get everyone back so then we kind of got going stop start I think now with the squad we have obviously any possible additions in January we'll see but with the squad we have really looking forward to kicking on and putting in some good performances and getting those points on the board. And you're obviously here today Claire also with Amadou and Ana who seems a real live wire a really good guy but just in terms of the Everton squad you know around this time of year who's the one who really loves Christmas who's the one who's watching Christmas 24 in November and getting ready for it? Actually I don't know it's not really been part of the discussion like I see someone like Connor Cody being quite quite cheesy and liking these things but yeah a few good lads in the squad and I'm sure they'll get into their Christmas festivities. Is there any grinches amongst the squad anyone who doesn't really like Christmas who's so focused on the Boxing Day game that it just passes them back? Well I hope we have a few so it's a big game for us. It's a big game you want everyone focused not too much Christmas dinner but no a good squad everything all the lads are looking forward to the festivities time with the family but then also looking at the business end. It is a strange time of year isn't it for a footballer it's not something maybe us fans understand but has this year been any different or is it just normal you know obviously training on Christmas day and just getting on with the business? Yeah well I think the normality will start now I think the last sort of week leading into the Boxing Day game and and the training and really preparing for the game against Wolves I think that'll bring us back to normality but yeah it's a strange time of year for us it's obviously all go as you rightly know that the fixtures come thick and fast and you know we're looking forward to that and you know everyone else can enjoy the holiday festivities and the football and TV and going to the stadiums but I think we're just looking forward to the games now. Fantastic thank you. Thank you. So there you go big thank you to Everton and a big thank you to Clare House and the magnificent work they do especially at this time of year making so many families feel happy and special over the festive period. If you'd like to donate to Clare House there is a link in the description to help them continue to do the fantastic work they do. Thank you for watching Toffee TV.