However, the striker has played only 10 games in the second tier of English football and will be making his top-flight debut next season. And Beckford said: “I’m excited by it. It’s going to be a test, I know that, but I am looking forward to it. I want to test myself at the highest level and luckily for me, David Moyes showed an interest in me, showed some faith in me and hopefully I can repay that.

“It’s a club that I think I can learn from and it can help me develop into a better player. Fingers crossed, I can be really involved in taking this club where it wants to be.”

Moyes, a long-time admirer of Beckford, has already had an impact on the player.

“I’ve been impressed a lot by him,” said the forward.

“He seems like the type of guy who will sit down and tell you where you’re going wrong, what you’re doing right and what you might need to work on.

“I’m excited by the prospect of working with him.”

Everton remain hopeful of further bolstering their forward line with the signing of teenage Portuguese striker Joao Silva.

There was bad news for one Goodison Park forward yesterday, though, when Victor Anichebe was left out of Nigeria’s 23-man party for the World Cup in South Africa.

Anichebe had made the preliminary squad and, although playing against Saudi Arabia last week, he didn’t feature in his country’s 1-1 draw against Colombia on Sunday.

Joseph Yobo and Yakubu did make the final cut for Lars Lagerback’s outfit.