Season 2001-2002

After weeks of uncertainty and many occasions when the deal looked all but dead, Everton have finally secured the services of Tomasz Radzinski after the striker put pen to paper on a four-year deal at Goodison Park.

His former club, Anderlecht, fought a bitter battle to hold on to their top scorer of last season but eventually it was player power that brought the £4.5m transfer to fruition. Radzinski set his heart on a move to the Premiership with Everton and, after initially signalling that he wouldn't make waves if the Belgian side blocked the deal, he went on strike from training to prove how much he wanted to play in England.

"I was fighting for my transfer, fighting to get here," he said during today's press conference. "I had to play a big role in getting myself released by Anderlecht.

"I really wanted to come to the Premiership and with a big club like Everton. I told myself that if I didn't do something, then it was not going to happen for me.

"I had to put a bit of pressure on Anderlecht and after a few days they decided to let me go, they saw a striker who was not happy in the club and wouldn't bring them too much so they decided to let me go.

"I'm just happy to be here after all the difficult times we had to achieve this. There was a time at the beginning of last week when I felt it was not going to happen and that I wouldn't ever be able to play in the Premiership.

"Luckily things changed in the last few days, and then everything was tied up very quickly. Anderlecht got the fee they liked, but they still didn't seem to want to let me go, the problem was between me and Anderlecht.

Having branded Everton as not good enough for the talents of Radzinski, Anderlecht threatened to report Goodison officials to FIFA for making an illgeal approach for their player. That threat wasn't carried out, or if it was, it came to nothing, and it was left to Everton to up their offer from £3.8m in order to persuade Anderlecht to let the Canadian international go.

Despite scoring an average of a goal every two games for Anderlecht over the past three seasons, Radzinski remains a relatively unknown quantity in England [see the current Viewpoint article], aside from his impressive performances against Leeds and Manchester United (against whom he scored twice) in last season's Champions League.

Although born in Poland, Radzinski is a Canadian international with (presumably dual) Belgian citizenship who has also lived and played in Germany. He was nicknamed "The Rat" by Canadians for his tendancy to put club before country, but those who have seen him play report that he is exceptionally quick.

He doesn't seem at all perturbed by the Blues' problems on the field last season: "Everton wanted me from the very beginning, and they have given me the opportunity to play in the Premiership.

"They need to grow from their current status to where the club was before, and I want to help them do that.

"Everton have a very good squad but they had many problems with injuries last season, and if they can overcome them then they will be able to make great strides in the coming season.

"I know the Premiership is very tough and very rough, and very fast football so it will be a little bit different to Belgian football.

"Hopefully with my speed, I hope I can adapt very fast to the Premiership and be a big help to Everton and their aims."

The 27 year-old, who will wear the No. 8 shirt this coming season, jetted off to Tuscany to join the Everton training camp this morning, a week-long gathering that does not feature Abel Xavier, Michael Ball (leg injury) or Alex Nyarko, who was also fined two week's wages today for failing to turn up for training at Bellefield. Everton have yet to find an interested buyer to take the troubled Ghanaian international off their hands.

by Lyndon Lloyd