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Mason Holgate chose to sign for Everton over other Premier League clubs - but only after an eleventh hour phone call from Roberto Martinez.

The 19-year-old joined the Blues from League One side Barnsley in August in a deal worth an initial £500,000.

Holgate put pen to paper on a five-year-deal and rejected the advances top flight clubs, including Bournemouth, to sign for Everton.

And the young defender was headed to the south coast club for a medical when a last-ditch Martinez call convinced him to join the Blues.

Holgate was impressed with the manager’s attention to detail and is hoping to follow in the footsteps of John Stones, who also came through the ranks at Barnsley, and Brendan Galloway who swapped League One for Everton in 2014.

“After speaking to the gaffer and seeing Stonesy and Brendan, there wasn’t really a decision to make,” Holgate told the ECHO.

“As soon as you speak to him, you just know.

“I spoke to a few managers and they all sounded good but as soon as I spoke to the gaffer here I just knew I had to come to Everton.

“I’m only young but it felt like some of the managers didn’t know a lot about me, they were asking what my position was but Roberto rang me and he knew everything.”

“It just happened really fast,” he added.

“I was on my way to Bournemouth and it was then that I first heard about Everton’s interest.

“But he rang me as I was going down and so I turned the car around.

“We were by Birmingham on the motorway and just turned around.”

Holgate is a regular with Everton’s under-21s this season but has also named in the matchday squad for three of the first-team’s games.

“I’ve trained most days with the first-team,” Holgate revealed.

“There’s a lot more detail in the training as you step and the it’s a faster pace.

“But it’s good, it’s just getting used to it - there was a lot of running around at first!

“I’ve settled in now and I’m getting used to it.”

“I’d been at Barnsley since I was seven and so it was all I’d known so it was weird not playing for Barnsley anymore,” he added.

“It was a big decision but I felt like it was the right time.

“It’s not just moving team, it’s moving out of my house with mum and dad and living by myself but most people my age go to uni, so it’s the same as that.

“It was hard early on but it’s not that far away so I get home quite a lot.”

Doncaster-born Holgate made his Everton u-21s’ debut in August’s opening mini-derby of the season.

After giving away a 12th minute penalty, the Blues newboy found his feet to produce a man-of-the-match display as David Unsworth’s men recovered from 3-0 down to draw 3-3.

Everton travel to St Helens’ Langtree Park on Sunday (2pm) for the return game with the Reds’ second string.

“It’s a big first game,” he said.

“I didn’t feel that nervous but I was looking forward to it and you can tell what it means to everybody and all the staff.

“It was a bad start with the penalty but everyone got back together and we played well.

“We went 3-0 down, got it back to 3-3 and could’ve gone on to win the game in the end.”