“It looks like that is it for me at Arsenal because I am out of contract in the summer,” says Senderos. “But the end of the road was the summer, really. I could have left Arsenal then but it didn’t happen. I made more than 120 starts for Arsenal but over the last few years things did not work out like I wanted them to. I am not bitter at leaving. They are a big club who have me a lot and I owe a lot to them.

“They took me from Switzerland when I was 18 and I got to play in a Champions League final and to win the FA Cup. I am proud to say I was an Arsenal player.

“Arsenal gave me a chance but there are always other players at big clubs, and when you play two or three times a week, if you have an injury or the other players do well when they come in then they’re going to stay in the side. I don’t think I was treated unfairly.”

For Senderos, there are two main aims for the remainder of the season – guide Everton up the Premier League table to European qualification and safeguard his place in Switzerland’s squad for this summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa.

“The Europa League is a big incentive,” says the defender. “We have a lot of important games coming up in February, and if the team carries on the run we have had in the Premier League and become stronger, then I think we have a chance of making a Europa League place. That’s the goal for the team.

“And I hope to play enough games so I can play for Switzerland in the World Cup. Ottmar Hitzfeld has told all the players that if they do not play then it will be difficult to pick them.

“I understood that position in the summer and that’s why I knew I needed to go somewhere else.

“But I don’t regret not moving away from Arsenal in the summer. I believe that things happen for a reason and maybe it was not the right time to join Everton then, and it is the right time to come here now.”