Anthony Gordon has expressed his regret at the way his Everton career ended after he ditched Merseyside to join Newcastle in the January transfer window.
Gordon came up through the Everton youth ranks at the club's Finch Farm training base before making his first-team debut in 2020 and quickly emerging as a bright prospect for the future.
However, the 22-year-old began to sever his relationship with the club's supporters after first refusing to turn up to training before eventually securing a £40m move to St James' Park that put an end to his Goodison Park career.
Now Gordon has revealed that despite his Everton tenure coming to an unsavoury end, the Merseyside outfit will always have a place in his 'heart'.
'My whole life has been at Everton. I grew up in Everton, I wasn't going out with friends and stuff when I was younger, I was always in Everton so it was a massive place in my heart and in my life which I'll never forget,' Gordon told Sky Sports.
'From afar I will always be rooting for them and wishing them the best.
'I think it is really difficult [to come back from supporters being unhappy] once things like that happen it's hard to recover from, especially because I'm from them there, I grew up on those streets.
Gordon made 78 appearances for Everton's senior team and starred with four goals during their dramatic Premier League survival last season under then-manager Frank Lampard.
The speed bursting winger has managed just four appearances for Eddie Howe's Magpies and has so far failed to score for his new club.
Everton posted a short 54-word statement to summarise his time in Blue and Gordon admitted he felt he deserved more of a farewell as he felt his boyhood club should have shown him 'credit'.
'Yeh it did, it hurt me a little bit, I'm not going to lie to you,' Gordon remarked about Everton's leaving statement.
'I thought I'm a 22-year-old lad I'm not going to handle every situation in life perfectly but as a club with thousands of people working for them, I think the effort I gave them last year, I was a massive part in keeping the club up.
'Players player, manager's player of the year, so for them to not really show me any credit or thank me for anything it hurt me a little bit,' he added.