Lens seemed quite happy to allow their young but powerful midfielder, 20-year-old Guillaume Plessis to come for a trial at Goodison as the January 2005 transfer window edged toward closure.  But it still came as a bit of a surprise that David Moyes decided to sign him — albeit only on a six-month contract.

However, the Everton squad were definitely low on numbers, with the midfield being particularly exposed by the unplanned loss of Thomas Gravesen to Real Madrid having knocked David Moyes back a bit and further messed up his team-building plans.

But will Guillaume Plessis actually get a game? (He has not even played for Lens.)  Or will he go the way of Eddie Bosnar, making up the numbers on the roster but never even warning the bench?

Well, he did get to warm the bench.  For three games.  Near the end of the 2004-05 season.  But that's as close as he got to becoming a fully-fledged Everton player.  He was released in Moyes's end-of-season purge.

Nice to know that Australian/Croatian defender Eddie Bosnar, a 'great success' during his time at Everton, signed a contract in August 2006 with Dutch side Heracles Almelo, playing in the highest league in Holland.  In a local newspaper he revealed that he was not able to prove his ability in the Premier League due to a series of injuries.