Sheffield United defender Phil Jagielka admits choosing Everton over West Ham in 2007.

The 38-year-old spent 12 years back on Merseyside after returning to the club that released him as a 15-year-old, leaving again in 2019 to re-join Sheffield United back in the Premier League.

The defender told the Super Six Podcast: "Well West Ham, I think you'd understand why I couldn't do the West Ham one!

"Obviously there was the Carlos Tevez and Mascherano ordeal. Third party ownership, obviously they [the Premier League] were umm-ing and ahh-ing about points deductions.

"But there was a bitter taste in your mouth. I wouldn't say they broke the rules, but they bent the rules quite a lot. They didn't own two of the players, the agent owned them and struck a deal with West Ham.

"Let's be honest, Tevez and Mascherano went on to have amazing careers. These were two players who, realistically no disrespect to West Ham, but they wouldn't have been able to afford to have had on a level playing field.

"They got away with it, ended up going down on goal difference. I reported back on the first day of pre-season and I got a phone call from Alan Curbishley.

"He was saying he'd love to have me there but probably understood if I couldn't! I was captain of the club at the time, I'd come through the youth, I'd have been spitting in Sheffield United faces if I'd have gone to West Ham.

"I was always very keen on staying up north, Everton had had a fantastic season - I think a season before they'd nearly qualified for the Champions League.

"So when they came a-knocking it was an easy decision. Funnily enough I knew how to get there, obviously I'd been there as a young lad! It was nice to go back there with a little bit of a grit in my teeth."