Fit-again Everton winger Yannick Bolasie was delighted with his U23 comeback last night.

Bolasie has been sidelined for over 12 months with a career-threatening knee injury, but enjoyed a half-hour against Leicester City on Monday night.

“Playing again was overwhelming," Bolasie said.

“When I got on I felt good. I knew about two weeks ago I was going to play in this game so it's good.

“There wasn't any nerves! Now that I've played the 30 minutes there isn't any. Maybe before there was some because it's been a long time. Training is training – it's totally different in the matches when it matters so, yes, I'm happy.

“I want to be with the [first team] boys. Right now the team is doing really well so you're going to have to try to fight your way in but there's no rush for myself. I know what my role is because a year out in football means it will be a month or two before I'm really back at it but the main thing is that I feel okay.

“Just the smell of grass again in the game was great."