Marcus Hahnemann is happy to work as Tim Howard's understudy at Everton.

Hahnemann, who played 276 games for Reading in between stints at Fulham and Wolves, is content with being the older back-up to his friend at Goodison.

"I know Tim and I've backed him up in the last World Cup. I don't think being a back-up is a failure," he told the Liverpool Echo.

"Obviously I want to play games, but number two still gets cup games. and the older you get, it's almost the logical step. Usually you have a young goalkeeper, and you have the older experienced one, that's how it is. You need that cover.

I'm not 100% sure where we're going to go long term and that's why we only signed until January. Then it could be back to the States, or here, we don't know. We'll see how it works for myself and the team, and hopefully that's a good fit."