Everton recruits Cuco Martina on free transfer

Cuco Martina and Ronald Koeman are reuniting at Everton.

On Monday afternoon, Martina became the Toffees' latest recruit in the summer transfer window, as the right-back joined the club on a Bosman following the expiration of his contract at Southampton.

Martina tallied 15 appearances under Koeman throughout the 2015-16 Premier League season. After the Dutch manager left Southampton, the defender failed to secure a place in Claude Puel's first team and made only 18 appearances in all competitions.

"Everton is a big club with big ambitions and I'm really looking forward to joining this group of players and the manager as we try to step forward next season," Martina told evertonfc.com. "Obviously, I know the manager from my time at Southampton, so I know what he wants and he knows what I can do.

"Everton supporters are really passionate about their club and everyone's excited about where the club is aiming. You can see this is a club that wants to achieve something and the players we are bringing certainly show this. When you come to a new club, you need to get to know one another so the training camp in Holland will be great for me and for the other new players as well. We will play against Twente, one of my old clubs too, and I'm really looking forward to showing everyone what I can do."

Born in the Netherlands, Martina represents Curacao at the international level. He played only one game at the Gold Cup as the national team failed to score a single goal in the group stage.

At Everton, Martina will help fill the void left by Seamus Coleman, recovering after he suffered a broken leg in 2018 World Cup qualifier between Ireland and Wales.