Leandro Rodríguez 57

Though manager Roberto Martinez did not ultimately sign a proven striker to provide reliable back-up to Romelu Lukaku during the 2015 summer transfer window, he did draft in an almost entirely unknown prospect from Uruguay for half a million pounds a few days before the deadline.

Born in Montevideo, Leandro Rodríguez began his career with River Plate in his home city and completed three seasons with them, showing an improving strike rate each term before Everton came knocking.

In his final campaign, he scored 10 goals in 27 appearances in all competitions, alerting Blues scout Kevin Reeves who saw enough in the then 22-year-old to recommend Martinez snap him up, particularly given that his dual Italian passport would mean he would not require a work permit to play in England.

Though it was assumed that he wouldn't be quite ready for the English Premier League and would, therefore, join the likes of other young, recent striking acquisitions like David Henen and Sam Byrne in the Under-21s setup, Martinez indicated that he felt Rodriguez would be able to contribute to the first team in his first season with the club.

"He probably won't [need time with the Under-21s] because he has played enough games with his first team in Uruguay in a really competitive league," Martinez was quoted as saying after he signed. "If you look at the amount of strikers that come through those environments, you don't get surprised about the quality of these players.

"I am not saying that to put pressure on the boy, but he is a player we can be very much excited about in the future."

Unfortunately, they weren't prophetic words from the Catalan because Rodríguez only made one senior start for the Blues. He featured in only a handful of Under-21 games during the first half of the 2015-16 season, but did make the first-team bench for the Capital One League Cup game at Reading in September before making his first-team debut when he replaced Aaron Lennon in the last minute of an FA Cup tie against Dagenham & Redbridge in January 2016.

On 17 March 2016, Rodríguez joined Championship club Brentford on a one-month loan.  He made his debut three days later in a 0–1 home loss to Blackburn Rovers, playing 76 minutes before being replaced by Scott Hogan. He suffered a pulled hamstring on his second appearance and returned to Goodison Park when his loan expired.

Not featuring in any of the pre-season games in the summer of 2016, he was also stripped of his shirt number and looked forward to an uncertain future under new Everton manager, Ronald Koeman, with the Liverpool Echo reporting in August 2016 that he was had told he had no future at Goodison Park and that he should find another club. 

That didn't happen until January 2017 when he finally moved on, albeit on loan, to Waasland Beveren in Belgium until the end of the 2016-17 season but did not play any senior games for them. 

His limbo in Europe ended in August 2017 when he secured a free transfer back to Uruguay with Danubio FC, the first of two spells either side of moves to Torque and Racing Club, both in Montevideo. He would make a handful of appearances at Uriguayan side Renistas as well as playing nine times for Portograuro in Italy's fouth tier before returning to his native Uruguay in 2023 with Bella Vista.

FactFile