EVERTON PLAYER PROFILES
Apostolos Vellios
| Squad number | 27 |
| Position | Striker |
| Joined on | 30 January 2011 |
| Joined from | Iraklis Thessaloniki |
| Transfer fee | ~£215k |
| Debut (Sub) | v Aston Villa (H) 2 April 2011 |
| Debut (Full) | v Fulham (A) 23 October 2011 |
| Contract duration | 3½ years |
| Contract expires | June 2014 |
| Born | Greece |
| Date of birth | 8 January 1992 |
| Height | 6' 3" |
| Nickname(s) | Adonis |
| Honours |
| STRENGTHS |
| Tall Greek God |
| Eye for goal |
| WEAKNESSES |
| Lacking Experience |
Soccerbase Datafile
Everton were keen to play down their £250k capture of Greek youngster Apostolos Vellios in January 2011, the only incoming player during the transfer window that saw a number of Everton players departing by transfer (Pienaar) or out on loan (Vaughan, Yakubu).
But they had to fend off rumoured interest from Aston Villa, Fulham, Olympiacos, AEK Athens and Bolgona to convince the 19-year-old his future was in Merseyside :"The Premier League was my number one choice and as soon as I came here to Everton, saw the stadium, the training ground and met with the players and coach I knew this was the place for me," he said.
"I was so impressed and I feel very good here."
Vellios started impressing the coaches at Finch Farm, the 6ft 3in target man scoring Everton’s only goal in a 5-1 reserve team drubbing by Blackburn Rovers in February.
Vellios has been capped 14 times for the Greek U-19 team and scored seven times at that level. The goal against Blackburn was a cooly taken strike from Nathan Craig’s pass, and he will hope to build on that flash of potential before staking a claim for a place in Moyes’s first team plans.
But that chance was not to come for another couple of months, and only when forced on Moyes by the most horrendous injury crisis that devastated what was left of the midfield and attack in the first-team squad after many had been sent out on loan.
Despite a major injury crisis that left David Moyes with only the misfiring Jermaine Beckford as a recognized striker, Vellios only got a paltry 10 mins at the end of a home match against Aston Villa by way of a belated introduction to Premier League football. It wasn't enough to really get into the game but at least he put a decent shot on goal that got deflected away for a corner.
He was given another paltry 10 mins at Molineux the following game, despite Everton being in a commanding 3-0 lead at half-time. Sometimes Moyes's caution in these matters seems at best counter-productive. Three sub appaearances, followed by four games spent just sitting in the subs bench...
He got a few chances in the 2011 pre-season games, but did not really do enough to make much of an impression. And opportunities were stop-start as David Moyes struggled with his usual early season responsibilities as Everton manager, failing to get his increasingly dispirited rabble of a squad to play anything approaching decent football that would allow the young Greek to show at his best.
Christmas had come and gone, with Vellios amongst the club's leading scorers on the princely sum of three goals — not bad for a striker who'd started two games and was yet to complete 90 minutes in an Everton shirt — when Moyes effectively gave up on him, not even putting him on the subs bench after the arrival of Nikica Jelavic.
The first half of the new 2012-13 season wasn't much better. He amassed just three sub appearances before Christmas, despite the Croatian mastreo showsing serious signs of second-season syndorome.
By
Last updated January 2013
| Everton Career | |||||||
| Season |
Squad Number |
League Apps (sub) |
League Goals |
Cup Apps (sub) |
Cup Goals |
Total Apps (sub) |
Total Goals |
| 2010-11 | 27 |
0 (3) |
0 |
0 (0) |
0 |
0 (3) |
0 |
| 2011-12 | 27 |
2 (11) |
3 |
0 (2) |
0 |
2 (13) |
3 |
| 2012-13 | 27 | 0 (6) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (6) | 0 |
| Totals | 2 (20) | 3 | 0 (2) | 0 | 2 (22) | 3 | |
Note: Everton Career Stats on ToffeeWeb are updated after every game.
| Previous Career | |||
| Season | Team | Appearances (sub) | Goals |
| 2006-2011 | Iraklis Thessaloniki | _(-) | _ |
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