Andy Van der Meyde admits to weird feeling when he got attention from women

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Everton cult hero Andy Van der Meyde has admitted he had a weird felling when he got "attention from women" during his time as a footballer.

The former Dutch international spent four injury-hit years at Goodison Park between 2005 and 2009 after joining them club from Inter Milan. During his playing days, Van der Meyde garnered a reputation for his playboy lifestyle and antics off the field, but has now admitted that female attention left him feeling weird.

The 42-year-old reflected on that aspect of his playing days in an interview with the Toffees for their final matchday programme of the season.

Asked about partying and drinking whilst he was playing, Van der Meyde admitted: “Of course, I liked it. You get a lot of attention from women because you are a famous footballer.

“If I was asked for photos or autographs, I thought, ‘This is weird, man, I am only a footballer, not the president’. Then I began thinking, ‘Wow, this is easy’.”

Despite his initial feelings regarding female attention, it was only because of Van der Meyde's ex-wife that he ended up playing for Everton, after her demands prevented him from joining Monaco instead.

"I wanted to sign for Monaco," he told BBC Radio 5 Live in 2013. "But my ex-wife likes a lot of animals. I like a dog or something but not what she likes – zebras and all that sort of stuff.

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"I phoned my wife and said, 'Hey, they only have apartments there and you can't have a zebra in the flat, you'll have to leave them at home'. That was not her thing and she didn't want to go there, so we went to rainy Liverpool."

Having joined Everton for £8.1million, Van der Meyde went on to make just 24 appearances in four seasons on Merseyside as injuries disrupted his time in England.

His spell with the club saw him fail to score a single goal and make just two assists, with the Ajax academy graduate not making a single appearance during his penultimate season with David Moyes' side.

Van der Meyde was released by Everton in 2009 and went on to hang up his boots in the summer of 2012. He has remained outspoken since retiring and admitted in July last year that he once had a gay moment with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

According to Van der Meyde, he kissed the Swedish striker whilst he was asleep on the team bus during their time as team-mates at Ajax.

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