Jagielka wants Everton to follow Manchester United’s lead in Europe

Phil Jagielka has called on his Everton teammates to follow in the footsteps of Manchester United and win the Europa League this season. 

Everton start their Europa League group stage campaign with a tough trip to Italian side Atalanta on Thursday after overcoming Hajduk Split in the qualifiers last month. 

The Toffees do not have a good recent record in Europe, but Jagielka believes the Europa League could be the perfect platform for the Toffees to make the next step and qualify for the Champions League.

“After seeing how United did, and Liverpool also got to the final the year before, I think it’s a competition that we can target,” Jagielka told ESPN. “It’s a competition that a lot of people look at it and aren’t sure whether to take it seriously or what sort of squad to put out in it. 

“But United made a conscious effort, after not having the best of starts in the league, to put out the best team that they possibly could. They ended up winning a trophy they had never won before and getting Champions League qualification through doing so. We can’t choose to be picky about what kind of tournaments or trophies we want to try to win.

“I think the manager is desperate to win something, as are the players, and the Europa League presents as good an opportunity as the domestic cups.”

Jagielka, who was linked with a summer move away from Goodison Park, is expected to feature heavily in Everton’s European campaign following the arrival of Michael Keane over the summer. 

Since August 2014, only John Stones (7) and Aaron Cresswell (6) have committed more errors that have directly led to an opposition goal in the Premier League more times than the 35-year-old (4).