The Dutchman joined Everton from Fulham for a fee in the region of £1m in the summer of 2016 and went on to ply his trade for the club for four years before returning to the Netherlands last summer.
The four years he spent with the Toffees were his biggest spell with any club outside the Netherlands and Stekelenburg has hailed it as a pleasant experience.
Explaining how much he enjoyed his time at Goodison Park, the 38-year-old pointed out that the contract with Everton enabled him to settle down, having had spells with four clubs in the space of five years before that.
Stekelenburg also recalled how his family enjoyed a good social life during his time at Everton, but felt it was the right time to return to the Netherlands when his former club Ajax came calling last year.
“The last four years in England were very pleasant“, Stekelenburg told Dutch magazine Voetbal International.
“That really became our place.
“Before that, I changed clubs often: two years in Italy, one year in England, one year in France; in our opinion, we were mainly on the road at the time.
“This was no longer the case in the last period.
“My long-term contract with Everton allowed us to really settle down.
“We lived between Liverpool and Manchester, in a beautiful environment, met new people, the children had a good time in school, we really got our social life there.
“That was nice, but when Ajax dropped by last summer, it also felt like the right time to go back.
“Back to the Netherlands, after a great period abroad.“
Stekelenburg made 19 Premier League appearances for Everton during his four-year stint with the club.
