Toto Nsiala says leaving Everton left him feeling like he had let people down

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The former Everton defender is now on the books at Ipswich Town.

The Ipswich Town defender Toto Nsiala has revealed how leaving Everton left him feeling like he had let people down.

Nsiala joined Everton’s academy at the age of 15 and progressed through the ranks at Goodison Park, appearing as an unused substitute in the games against BATE Borisov (2009-10), Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers (2010-11).

But the Toffees released him at the end of the following campaign, prompting spells at Accrington Stanley, Vietnam’s TDCS Dong Thap, Southport, Grimsby Town, Hartlepool United, Shrewsbury Town and now Ipswich.

Speaking to local paper, the Green’Un 24, this week, Nsiala said: “After leaving Everton I felt I had let people down.

“My mates would say ‘this lad’s playing for Everton and is doing well’ and then I wasn’t there anymore.

“I felt all eyes were on me after that and I just needed to get away where no one knew me so I could find myself. I couldn’t have gone to a better place than Vietnam but I travelled a bit before ending up there.”

And Nsiala – who also admitted he could not afford to live in Sweden after a trial spell there but now donates a percentage of his income to an orphanage in his native DR Congo – added: “At that time, I didn’t have a job, I had no money coming in and I was getting depressed.

“But when I looked around and saw the poverty around me over there, yet the people were still happy about life. It put things into perspective for me. It made me realise what I did have in life and made me more humble, definitely.”

Having played under Paul Hurst at Grimsby and Shrewsbury, Nsiala followed his former boss to Ipswich in the summer.

But the 26-year-old has yet to feature since Hurst’s Portman Road sacking last month.