Before Everton’s encounter with the Canaries this afternoon it was announced to the crowd that there would be breaking news. To many people around the ground, it was a surprise that Aiden McGeady was unveiled to the Goodison faithful as numerous supporters were under the impression that he would sign in the summer due to his contract coming to an end at Russian outfit Spartak Moscow. He will have been impressed with his new employers as they moved onto win their game 2-0 against Norwich City with Gareth Barry and Kevin Mirallas both scoring spectacular goals.
The Irish international is mainly known for his time at Glasgow Celtic where he grew a reputation for being a quick winger who enjoyed running at full backs. He moved to Spartak Moscow in 2010 for a fee of £9.5 million, which makes him the second most expensive player to move from the Scottish Premier League. Even though Aiden McGeady is Scottish he plays internationally for the Republic of Ireland due to his grandparents being from that location so he is already familiar with players such as Seamus Coleman, Darron Gibson and James McCarthy.
It was no great secret that Everton were interested in the winger as even in the summer the Toffees tried to sign him. The Scotsman even declared that in the past he nearly signed for Wigan Athletic when Roberto Martinez was manager, which demonstrates that the Spaniard has all the faith in him. It became apparent that McGeady was available when manager Vareli Karpin placed him on the transfer list when he allegedly had a dispute with him.
Since McGeady’s arrival in Russia he has scored thirteen goals and gained twenty-eight assists. This will good news for Everton fans but he will have to work very hard if he wants to get ahead of the likes of Steven Pienaar, Kevin Mirallas and even Gerard Deulofeu. He will have seen the quality on show when he was sitting in the stands today and it is for certain that he has seen the superiority throughout this campaign.
McGeady has expressed that he is excited to get started and has had heard only good things about Everton from people currently involved. Everton’s next game is against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorne’s on Monday 20th January.