Opportunities there for record signing

Aug 31 2007 Fan scene by Mark O'Brien, Liverpool Daily Post

WITH all the commotion surrounding Manuel Fernandes’ duplicity, it almost feels as if Everton’s smashing of their transfer record has gone almost unheralded.

Middlesbrough fans are going out of their way to tell Evertonians that £11.25million for Aiyegbeni Yakubu is an utter rip off, but even a cursory glance at the record books show that they would have been sunk without his goals in the past few seasons.

There are obviously other questions though, about his attitude especially, and he did his reputation no favours with his lacklustre performances towards the tail-end of his career at the Riverside. Even David Moyes has commented on the need for the Nigerian to match the work-rate of his team-mates; hopefully he will heed that and take some of the pressure off Andy Johnson.

The ex-Crystal Palace man has run himself into the ground but has had few chances in front of goal. For us to see him at his best he clearly needs someone alongside him week-in, week-out, who carries more threat and has more experience than Victor Anichebe.

With all due respect to Middlesbrough as well, this Everton side is far better than theirs of the past few seasons, so Yakubu should get plenty of opportunities to build on his reputation for finding the back of the net.

Who gets to help Mikel Arteta and Leon Osman fashion those openings for the multi-million pound frontline will be interesting, especially as it looks likely that Thomas Gravesen will be getting a chance to do so in a move that will have many Evertonians somewhat nonplussed.

On the positive side, he knows what Everton is all about and we know that he has got a lot of ability. We also know that Moyes won’t make the mistake that seemingly all other managers do, of asking the Dane to play a defensive role given that he can’t tackle and he goes wandering, looking for the ball.

Given a creative role then, especially in a five-man midfield, he can be very effective. However, Everton don’t play like that anymore, especially now that they have £20m pounds worth of strikers on the books. So, even though he comes on a free, the wages alone – which you would expect to be considerable – still represent something of a gamble on a player who was often frustrating for Everton and who struggled to make a mark playing for the best team in a woeful Scottish Premier League.