Andros Townsend said Rafa Benitez worked to bring him to Everton, where he started well before suffering a terrible injury
Everton's Spanish manager Rafael Benítez (L) speaks with Everton's English striker Andros Townsend (R) during the English Premier League football match between Everton and Arsenal at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England on December 6, 2021. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Then Everton manager Rafa Benitez speaks with Andros Townsend during the Premier League match against Arsenal at Goodison Park on December 6, 2021
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Andros Townsend believes Rafa Benitez overruled the Everton set-up to bring him to the club. The winger moved to Merseyside after his contract came to an end with Crystal Palace in July 2021.
The transfer reunited the England international with Benitez after the pair worked together briefly at Newcastle United.
While the former Liverpool manager's stint at Goodison Park would be a disastrous one, Townsend did have positive moments in Royal Blue before suffering a devastating knee injury in an FA Cup defeat at Palace later that season.
Despite having worked with Benitez in the past, Townsend said he was shocked when the then Blues boss sought him out in the summer of 2021 - a summer in which the only fee spent by Everton went on Demarai Gray but the club had yet to hit the off-field problems that would plunge it into years of turmoil.
Reflecting on how he discovered the club were interested, he said: “When he got the Everton gig, my agent sort of said, Rafa’s asked about you.
“And at the time, Everton were Newcastle, Everton were Aston Villa. They were the best of the rest. So I was like: ‘Yeah, no chance. Yeah, right’. [I was thinking] Like pull the other one.
“But lo and behold, he calls me, he fights for me. Nobody in the club wanted me, but he fought for me, got me.”
The reign of Benitez, a controversial appointment by former owner Farhad Moshiri, turned as sour as many predicted when he took over that summer and by the following January he was replaced by Frank Lampard.
Townsend, for his part, struck seven goals and created four more across 27 appearances in all competitions.
The highlight was his stunning strike in the home win over Burnley, which earned him the Premier League goal of the month accolade in September 2021.
Speaking on the Ripple Effect podcast, he said: “I ended up for four or five months producing some of my best football.
“For those first few months at Everton I really was the first name on the team sheet, which was bizarre.”
Townsend's season was cut short when he suffered an horrific anterior cruciate ligament injury on his return to Selhurst Park, however, as Everton lost an FA Cup quarter-final to Palace in the March of that campaign.
While he remained at the club until his contract expired at the end of the 2022/23 season, that FA Cup defeat was his last for the Blues.
The 34-year-old spent the following season in the top flight with Luton Town and now plays in Thailand with Kanchanaburi Power.