Royston Drenthe reveals truth behind late-night hot tub parties at Everton, fall-outs with Moyes and sheds light on acting career

In an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes: Fanzone, former Real Madrid player Royston Drenthe looks back at his season on loan at Everton and his attempt to break into the acting world.

I’ve played with Ronaldo, Raul and Benzema…but Ross Barkley makes my ultimate 5-a-side team ahead of all of them

Five-a-side was my game, man. I loved it from an early age right up through to my professional career, in training. It suited my style perfectly and I loved how we’d play in training. Rather than the opposition starting with the ball after you score a goal, like you’d usually get in football, you’d be rewarded for scoring in five-a-side by starting again with the ball, so at times you’d be able to go for so long without the opposition touching the ball. I loved it.

I’ve played with some incredible players in my career, so it’s tough for me to put together my ultimate five-a-side team. But, the first name in there, without a doubt, is Pepe. The guy is crazy, man. He’s someone you want on your team when you’re playing in those small games, for sure. You don’t want to be playing against him! In goal, I have to pick Iker Casillas. Obviously he’s one of the best goalkeepers we’ve ever seen, but he was so comfortable on the ball, too, he’s perfect for five-a-side.

I’m putting myself in there, in midfield, and Robinho up front. That was unbelievable and, again, this style of football just suits him perfectly. He’s straight in there for me. And then I’d have someone from Everton alongside me in midfield… I’d go with Ross Barkley. I loved playing with Ross. I loved everything about him on and off the pitch. He was so strong, quick and technically gifted. But he was such a nice guy, too. I was quite young while I was at Everton, but I think Ross was still just 18. Even at that age, though, we could all see how special he was going to be. It’s a shame things haven’t quite worked out for him but, my God, what a player he was. He’s making my five-a-side team, for sure.

Arriving at Everton I felt like a god… I used to think David Moyes was taking the p*** with me

I loved my time at Everton. I can honestly say it was amazing there. I think what I loved most was the people. It’s this massive city with two huge football clubs and I was honoured to represent one of them, as it was always a dream of mine to play in the Premier League. It’s as close as I’ve felt to being in Feyenoord, too, and I put that down to the people. Liverpool was a great home for me. It’s a shame that things didn’t quite go well enough for me on the pitch, because I could have easily seen myself playing for that club for a couple of years.

A lot has been made in the past of my time at the club, and the kind of character I was when I joined, and people know all about my relationship with David Moyes – especially while I was a player at Goodison Park. I think back now with a completely different mindset, though. As a 36-year-old, I can understand and appreciate the job he was doing, and how I thought back when I was 25 perhaps wasn’t always right.

Back then, I was firmly of the belief that Moyes was simply out to prove to the other players that he could get under my skin. We’d argue and I’d just think ‘what the f***? Is he taking the p***?’ And while there were certain occasions where I can say I still feel I was in the right, on the whole I’d say he was. Ultimately, he wanted to get the best out of me as a player, he wanted to help me, but I just couldn’t see that at the time. But people chang, and I can look back now a lot older and wiser, and I can understand why he did what he did with me.

I really like him as a manager, too. I think that when he’s given the right club, with the right amount of time, he can do great things. We saw it at Everton and we’re seeing it again, now, at West Ham. Despite the club being in a difficult position earlier on in the season, he seems to have steered them away from relegation and they’re in a really strong position in Europe.

Sometimes certain moves just don’t work out for you, and I think ultimately that was the case at Manchester United. When you take over a club like that, the expectation is on you straight from the outset. You don’t have time to settle in or to get things wrong. And, as I said, I feel like Moyes is the kind of person who needs that time, to implement his own ideas.

The truth behind my ‘late-night hot tub parties’ at Everton

Yes, I’ve seen what my former team-mates have said about me in the past, notably Tim Howard talking about the time I invited friends to the training-ground hot tub in the middle of the night. First of all, I’ll say – this is something which often happens – the real story ended up being blown up massively and turned into something which wasn’t true. Yes, I went to Finch Farm in the early hours, but only ever with friends and family who were coming over to see me. I didn’t see anything wrong with it at all!

I came to Everton as a 24-year-old, in a new environment, and honestly I felt like a god at the time of my move. So whenever my friends or family came to visit me in England, of course I was going to take them with me! It wasn’t as crazy as it’s been made out in the past. You know, sometimes I would take a couple of family members, sometimes it would be a group of friends, but nothing too crazy. It wasn’t affecting any of my team-mates. No-one was there at the time, I just wanted to bring people over.

Does it bother me when my former team-mates tell these stories? No. I don’t have a problem with any of my Everton team-mates or with what Tim said last year. He’s right, it happened and I’ve explained why I did it. I’d happily go for a drink with him today if he asked – or any of my other team-mates. I only have good things to say about them.

Swapping football for acting…

I’ve spoken about it a lot in the past, but I was always nervous about what I was going to do after I retired from football. It takes up so much of your life. There’s so much commitment attached to being a professional footballer, but when your career is over, you just wonder what’s next for you.

A lot has been made about my ‘rap career’, but in truth that’s just something I wanted to try out. I was never serious about pursuing a career in it. I did, however, always used to tell my mother that I wanted to be an actor one day. That was something I was very serious about. Aside from football, it was another dream of mine.

I’m the kind of person who is happy to give anything a go, and so I didn’t have a problem putting my name forward for a casting call for Mocro Maffia, a crime drama in the Netherlands. My agent said:  “What are you doing?!”

But I wanted to give it a go. I asked him to let them know I was interested and shortly after I was sent a script and told I had three weeks to prepare for my audition.

Like I said, I was always keen to try it out, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t nervous – of course I was. This was my first time trying anything like this. I wasn’t going into it with any experience whatsoever. For three weeks I studied and studied the lines until I could remember them inside out. And when it came to the day of my audition, the casting team couldn’t believe it was my first time acting… they were so surprised I’d not done anything like this before. They told me they’d let me know whether or not I’d got the job within a couple of weeks, and three days later I heard back from them and was told I was successful.

I loved it, I’m not going to lie. It was a great experience and something I wouldn’t rule out doing again. I know Daniel Craig has given up the role of James Bond… is that the next job for me? I’d have to work on my English a little more, I think!