Gylfi Sigurdsson Completes Everton Transfer from Swansea City on 5-Year Contract
Aug 16, 2017
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - MAY 13: Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea City in action during the Premier League match between Sunderland and Swansea City at the Stadium of Light on May 13, 2017 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images)
Everton announced the signing of Swansea City's Gylfi Sigurdsson on Wednesday, with the Icelandic star penning a five-year deal at Goodison Park.
The Everton Twitter account relayed the news of Sigurdsson's departure from the Liberty Stadium:
"Hopefully I will continue to create goals and score goals for the team and contribute to the kind of success we’re seeking at the club," the Iceland international told the Toffees' official website.
"This is an ambitious club and it is clear we are moving in a really good direction. The most important thing is that this team keeps winning games and climbing the table—and does that throughout the season."
As noted, Everton have been massive spenders in the summer transfer window:
The loss of Sigurdsson will be a big blow for the Swans, but he will add a huge amount to the Toffees' central-midfield department.
An accomplished No. 10, the 27-year-oldcan also drop deep, operate on the flanks or play as a forward if need be.
Though he endured a somewhat underwhelming two-season spell at Tottenham Hotspur, Sigurdsson has proved to be a consistently excellent goalscorer and provider in his two stints at Swansea.
In his time in the Premier League with the Welsh club, he netted 34 goals and provided 29 assists in 124 appearances, per WhoScored.com.
A free-kick specialist, Sigurdsson boasts a stinging right foot, and his linkup play is excellent.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - APRIL 30: Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea City scores his sides first goal from a freekick during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Swansea City at Old Trafford on April 30, 2017 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Mi
He has also proved himself on the international stage, playing a key role in Iceland's unexpected run to the UEFA Euro 2016 quarter-finals.
In Sigurdsson, Evertonhave signed a high-quality attacking player and a consistent performer who is only just reaching his peak and should be a huge asset for manager Ronald Koemanas his side push to breach the Premier League's top four in 2017-18.
He should act as a fine replacement for Ross Barkley, who has long been expected to leave Goodison Park, per the Guardian's Andy Hunter.
Indeed, former Everton midfielder Don Hutchison believes Sigurdsson will be an upgrade on the England international, per ESPN UK:
Koeman will hope his latest signing can hit the ground running, as Everton need to make a strong start to the 2017-18 term if they are to compete for the top four.
Ronald Koeman Confirms Ross Barkley Will Leave Everton for 'New Challenge'
Jul 26, 2017
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MAY 12: Ross Barkley of Everton shakes hands with Ronald Koeman, Manager of Everton as he is subbed off during the Premier League match between Everton and Watford at Goodison Park on May 12, 2017 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Everton manager Ronald Koeman has confirmed Ross Barkley will leave the club this summer in search of a "new challenge."
Koeman spoke to the press on Wednesday and was asked about the England international, who has one year left on his contract at Goodison Park. As noted by Phil Kirkbride of the Liverpool Echo, the Dutchman was candid in his assessment of the player's situation:
PerSky Sports News, Koeman said he "100 per cent" expects the midfielder to move on during the current transfer window.
Barkley broke through into the Everton team during the 2013-14 term and enjoyed a tremendous season. However, since then he has struggled for consistency.
Under Koeman he enjoyed a brilliant spell early in 2017 when used on the right side of midfield, although his erratic form returned towards the back end of the campaign. With no contract extension signed, speculation gathered pace about a possible exit from his boyhood club.
Journalist Joe Strange doesn't believe leaving Goodison Park at this point is the right decision for the player:
Cannot get my head around Ross Barkley turning down a lucrative contract at his newly ambitious boyhood club. Madness. Sell him and move on.
Indeed, while Everton have sold Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United for an initial £75 million, the club have been busy in the summer window.
The Toffees brought in Wayne Rooney from United, while Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Davy Klaassen and Sandro Ramirez have also arrived. Everton have also recently had a £40 million bid rejected for Gylfi Sigurdsson, perBBC Sport.
Wayne Rooney of Everton FC during the friendly match between FC Twente and Everton FC at sportpark De Stockakker on July 19, 2017 in De Lutte, The Netherlands(Photo by VI Images via Getty Images)
Even so, Barkley is a talent and was one of the most creative players in the Premier League last season,as noted by OptaJoe:
8 - Ross Barkley provided more assists than any other English player in the 2016-17 Premier League campaign. Service. pic.twitter.com/p37eGFrSOn
While plenty will question Barkley's decision to move on and where he'd fit into the interested teams, the pressure of being a local player can often inhibit the development of a footballer. And there have been signs of that in the case of the Everton man.
Whatever team does eventually get their hands on the England international will have a player who is strong on the ball and inventive in his passing. Finding a way to inject some consistency into his game will be a huge challenge, though.
Bradley Lowery Charity Match to Be Hosted by Everton at Goodison Park
Jul 24, 2017
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - MAY 13: A police officer is seen holding the match day programme displaying a image of Bradley Lowery outside the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Sunderland and Swansea City at Stadium of Light on May 13, 2017 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Everton will host a charity match to celebrate Bradley Lowery, a six-year-old football fan who died from a rare form of cancer earlier this month.
"In celebration of the life of Bradley Lowery, Everton Football Club is hosting a charity football match at Goodison Park on Sunday 3 September.
"The charity game has been arranged in conjunction with the Lowery family and the Bradley Lowery Foundation and, with the assistance of celebrity football organiser Sellebrity Soccer, will see a host of celebrities lace up their boots for the match which will benefit the Bradley Lowery Foundation and Everton in the Community."
Lowery, a Sunderland fan, became a public figure during the 2016-17 Premier League season. Everton invited him to Goodison Park on several occasions, and he even stood in as the Black Cats' team mascot when Sunderland played Everton in February.
Sadly, his parents announced he had died as a result of neuroblastoma earlier this month, leading to an outpouring of sympathy from the football world.
Per the Toffees' report, tickets for the charity match will be made available from the week of July 31, ranging from £5 for youngsters to £10 for adults.
Gylfi Sigurdsson Rumoured to Be Subject of £45 Million Everton Transfer Bid
Jul 24, 2017
SWANSEA, WALES - JULY 11: Gylfi Sigurdsson in action during the Swansea City Training at The Fairwood Training Ground on July 11, 2017 in Swansea, Wales. (Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images)
Everton have reportedly made a second offer for Swansea midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, worth up to £45 million with bonuses included, which was rejected.
Per the Daily Telegraph's John Percy, the offer was for £40 million, with the rest coming in the form of add-ons. Sky Sports News reported the bid was rejected by Swansea, noting the club want £50 million for the player.
According to the report, Everton's initial offer was for £40 million, and manager Ronald Koeman hoped the added bonus money would see the Toffees land their top target.
BARNET, ENGLAND - JULY 12: Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea City during the pre season friendly match between Barnet and Swansea City at The Hive on July 12, 2017 in Barnet, England. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)
Everton have already added a ton of talent this summer, with Wayne Rooney, Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane and Davy Klaasen headlining a strong group of new players. Sigurdsson would add another dose of creativity, to go with bags of Premier League experience.
The 27-year-old moved to Wales from Tottenham Hotspur in 2014 and seems ready to return to a bigger club. He didn't take part in Swansea's pre-season tour of the United States.
Wayne Rooney Selling £500 Hugs to Raise Money for Charity
Jul 19, 2017
Everton's new signing, English striker Wayne Rooney poses for a photograph with his club shirt after giving a press conference at Goodison Park in Liverpool on July 10, 2017, following his move to Everton from Manchester United.
Rooney, whose move comes after United announced they had agreed terms with Everton over buying striker Romelu Lukaku, will hope the switch revives his international career. / AFP PHOTO / Paul ELLIS (Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)
Newly returned Everton icon Wayne Rooney will reportedly show his softer side with a £500-per-hug charity fundraiser.
ESPN FC's Chris Wright reported A1 Sporting Speakers agency has organised the event, which will take place in September. A spokesman for the company said:
"It's a chance to shake hands or hug a true English legend and the best player of his generation and to benefit our chosen charity on the day."
"United fans can meet him and say thanks. Everton fans can greet their new player, who has always been a Toffee. Take some selfies. Get two or three things signed."
Rooney returned to boyhood club Everton on a free transfer from Manchester United earlier in July, and England's all-time record goalscorer is already giving back to the community on Merseyside.
It will still cost a couple £1,000 to get their hands on Rooney, who makes his Goodison Park comeback after 13 years at Old Trafford.
A1 Sporting Speakers make sure to note the hug-a-thon is open for United and Everton supporters alike, which is little surprise given the service he paid to the Red Devils, despite this summer's exit:
The sum is a princely price to pay for a few seconds of contact with Rooney, who is also United's all-time top scorer with 253 goals, while selfies and handshakes are also available to those willing to pay.
Seven new faces have arrived at Everton this summer in a spending spree of almost £100 million. It's the type of transfer activity usually saved for Football Manager, ...
Wayne Rooney Scores Stunning Goal 34 Minutes into Everton Return
Just days after being announced as an Everton player, making a triumphant return to his boyhood club, the Englishman had a stunning remember-me moment 34 minutes into his second debut.
Facing Gor Mahia in Tanzania, Manchester United and England's all-time leading scorer hit a stunning strike from distance to properly announce his return.
[Twitter]
Everton's £40M Gylfi Sigurdsson Bid Reportedly Rejected by Swansea City
Jul 13, 2017
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - MAY 13: Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea City in action during the Premier League match between Sunderland and Swansea City at the Stadium of Light on May 13, 2017 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images)
The Daily Telegraph's John Percy reported on the bid and said Everton were confident of landing him. He also revealed Sigurdsson had not travelled with the Swans for their pre-season trip to the United States:
Everton have made a £40m bid for Gylfi Sigurdsson and are hopeful of concluding a deal. Sigurdsson not on #Swans trip to the US today #efc
Manager Paul Clement recently admitted Swansea may end up having to sell Sigurdsson, 27, per BBC Sport, with the outlet also reporting the club's asking price for the player is £50 million, having already rejected a £40 million offer from Leicester City.
Per Sky Sports News HQ's Kaveh Solhekol, the Foxes' bid was actually worth more than Everton's:
Leicester City have already made higher bid than Everton for Gylfi Sigurdsson. Leicester bid was £40m plus add-ons. Also rejected by Swansea
And Swansea appear to not be wavering in their demands.
The Iceland internationalhas been Swansea's standout player over the past three seasons since returning to the club after a disappointing spell with Tottenham Hotspur.
He netted nine Premier League goals and provided 13 assists in 38 appearances as Swansea avoided relegation last term, perWhoScored.com.
Sigurdsson would be a fine addition to Ronald Koeman's Everton squad, but the Toffees are going to have to up their bid if they want to sign him.
Christian Benteke Reportedly Discussed by Everton Amid Olivier Giroud Rumours
Jul 11, 2017
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 06: Christian Benteke of Crystal Palace during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Crystal Palace at Etihad Stadium on May 6, 2017 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Mark Robinson/Getty Images)
According to MailOnline's Simon Jones, the Toffees have discussed the Belgian but are yet to make contact with Palace, while Chelsea are also thought to be looking at Benteke.
The striker is said to be content with life in London and looking for a new home in the capital.
What's more, Benteke only arrived at Selhurst Park last summer in a £27 million deal, and he has three years remaining on the contract he signed, so the Eagles will be keen to keep hold of their primary goal-getter.
He netted 17 times last season in 40 matches, and he has scored 66 in 154 Premier League appearances.
That puts him only slightly behind the goals-per-game ratio of his compatriot, and the man he would be replacing at Goodison Park, Romelu Lukaku, who has scored 85 goals in 186 Premier League outings.
The 26-year-old shares several attributes with Lukaku including his powerful physique and strength in the air, per Squawka Football:
Most headed Premier League goals since 2012/13:
Olivier Giroud (25) Christian Benteke (23) Romelu Lukaku (18)
While he would not be a completely like-for-like replacement for the former Everton man, and he's not quite at the same level, he would be fairly close.
Bleacher Report's Matt Jones has reservations over him, though:
Would love Dzeko or Giroud. Benteke not so much; probably would be the most expensive and is the most injury prone of three #EFC
There are indeed some question marks over him and how worthwhile the deal would be.
Benteke does not appear to be ready to move on to what would be his fourth club in three years, and Palace will likely drive his price up if any interested parties make an approach. So while he would not be a bad choice for Everton, there are probably better and potentially cheaper alternatives out there.
No Need to Dismiss Rooney and Everton Reunion as Futile Romanticism
Jul 11, 2017
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - JULY 10: Wayne Rooney holds up his new Everton shirt at Goodison Park on July 10, 2017 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Mark Robinson/Getty Images)
He can't win, Wayne.
It must have made grim reading for Wayne Rooney this past week, sat at home in his Everton pyjamas waiting by the phone. Principally, there have been two trains of thought on the situation: The Toffees have either been blindsided by romanticism or seduced by his commercial value.
A war has waged between the hopeless romantics and sneering pragmatists, with even the former erring more on the side of caution than conviction. Plenty have said Rooney to Everton is a nice signing; precious few have deemed it a good one. The line between kindness and condescension is a thin one. It's possible to be smothered by both.
When Everton chairman Bill Kenwright—a leading instigator of the move—recently saidin that indomitable theatrical style of his of welcoming Rooney's return, "Of course I'm a romantic. I'd bring Bob Latchford back if I could. And Dave Hickson," eyes were most definitely rolled among those who subscribe to the Billy Beane school of recruitment. It's hard to place a numerical value on emotion in a spreadsheet.
Rooney's more acerbic critics would probably argue Latchford might be a better option.
That Rooney engenders perfervid irritation in so many football writers meant the teasing foreplay to his move back to where it all began, after a 13-year hiatus in Manchester, spawned its own mini-genre of think pieces.
We have all long since anointed ourselves as experts on who clubs should sign—why billionaire owners rely on the whims of scouting networks when hacks do the same job for all to see on someone else's dime remains a mystery—but rare is it that one is indulged to pontificate on who they shouldn't.
Life is, after all, only so long.
It's a little like writing a cookbook dedicated to dishes that don't contain chicken. It tends to be quite a broad church.
Yet, Everton signing a 31-year-old striker who scored a record 253 goals for Manchester United in 559 appearances for essentially nothing garnered vehement opposition from far and wide.
United could have signed Usain Bolt as Zlatan Ibrahimovic's replacement on the say-so of their commercial department to aid a search for an official dabbing partner and received less sneering than Everton have endured. Sentimentalism has always been a dirty word in any industry that values ruthlessness so highly.
Though perhaps the writer Graham Greene was on to something when he said: "Sentimentality—that's what we call the sentiment we don't share."
Earlier in the summer, the buzzword around Rooney's situation was apathy. Apparently, no one cared about where he was going, until the point when he was actually going—then the mood turned to incredulity.
What would forward-thinking cash-rich Everton want with a washed-up has-been who has been in terminal decline for years?
The end of three decades of austerity at Goodison Park was supposed to be about looking forward not backward, and that had seemed to be the case when manager Ronald Koeman and director of football Steve Walsh made light work of relieving major shareholder Farhad Moshiri of a small fortune, in bringing in Michael Keane, Jordan Pickford, Davy Klaassen, Sandro Ramirez and Henry Onyekuru.
Many perceive adding Rooney's name to that list as less a coup than an indulgence. It's cognac and a cigar at the end of a good meal, a predictable demonstration of tawdry wealth. All fur coat and no knickers springs to mind.
Rooney, though, should not be a slave to his past any more than Everton. Throughout his career, he has suffered from being judged as the player he never quite became, rather than the brilliant one he did. It's quite the backhanded compliment when people complain he compares unfavourably to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo.
That some Manchester United supporters will never forget how, in his 13 years at Old Trafford, he flashed a little too much thigh at both Chelsea and Manchester City is par for the course, and it takes a braver writer than this one to wade into another family's affairs. The same can be said of those Everton fans who took his "Once a Blue, Always a Blue" T-shirt a little too literally.
What's indisputable, though—from a neutral perspective—is that as both United and England's finest-ever goalscorer, he merits his place at football's top table.
Rooney's eight goals and 10 assists in 39 appearances last term hardly instil confidence that a Romelu Lukaku-shaped void will be filled easily. Still, they are not atrocious numbers either.
From 15 Premier League starts (and a further 10 appearances off the substitutes' bench) he scored five goals and set up as many. A further eight bookings over the same period can be put down to either frustration or an inability to keep pace.
At Rooney's unveiling to the press on Monday afternoon, Koeman was quick to praise the player's versatility. He also explained the role he expects him to play as he looks to spread goals more evenly among his team.
"A player with his qualities can play different positions but offensively. He can be a 10 behind the striker, he can be in a free role from the left, he can be the nine, he can be the seven.
"Romelu scored 25, the next on the list scored four or five. I'd prefer several scoring 10-15 than only one scoring 25. Wayne is the kind of player to bring productivity."
Current scene: Ronald Koeman, arms folded, waiting 25 mins in a corridor for Wayne Rooney to turn up at his own press conference
Rooney was quick to make clear he is not returning to Merseyside to try out his Everton slippers: "I always play like I have a point to prove. I'm not coming into a retirement home." Good job, too, as behind the smile, Koeman is as smart as a whip and as hard as Nurse Ratched.
The Dutchman is no one's fool. If Ross Barkley is a better option than Rooney, then he'll play Barkley. And if he's not, maybe he's not all that after all. There is an arrogant assumption, usually made by people who observe the game rather than partake in it, that the value of experienced players in dressing rooms is overstated. Rooney leaves United with the words of his former team-mates sounding like anything but hollow platitudes.
Maybe he did become too powerful in Manchester at one point, but it's nigh-on impossible to find a bad word said about him from anyone who has either played with or against him.
In a piece for the New York Times on Sunday, the always even-handed Rory Smith wrote: "There is something else at play, too, though, something perhaps unique to Rooney himself: a readiness, if not quite a glee, to write him off at the first available opportunity, to believe that there will be no final hurrah, no last swan song, no Indian summer. It is a trend that has its roots in what he was, who he is and where he came from."
He's right about the unique to Rooney bit, but he's wrong on the glee front. Some of the best football writers I know react to Rooney shanking a 50-yard cross-field pass into touch the same way they do a Mesut Ozil nutmeg sent from heaven—sheer bliss.
Pieces are filed imbued with a tone of doleful sadness over a career on the wane, yet live minute-by-minute autopsies are often penned with a (gleeful) scalpel. Considered reports of his performances over this past two years or so have read like obituaries.
It's not even as though there is a choir of Rooney worshippers left to quiet. By his own admission, he is far from the player he once was. As long ago as 2013, Sir Alex Ferguson prophesied his decline in his autobiography (via FourFourTwo):
"In my final year, when he was left out a few times, and replaced in games, I felt he was struggling to get by people and had lost some of his old thrust.
"But he was capable of making extraordinary contributions. Those flashes guaranteed his profile."
Film stars have a profile. Musicians have a profile. Few footballers transcend the remit of the athlete to need one. Rooney has been one of those who has, pretty much since day one.
With 755 senior appearances for club and country already on the clock, there is little dispute Rooney years are more like those of the dog variety. When Koeman spoke of his new signing being "only 31," it was hard not to recall Tim Lovejoy on FanZone duty for Sky Sports. In that not-at-all-smug way of his, he said, "He's through! Oh, it's alright, it's only Ray Parlour…" just before the Arsenal midfielder rifled in a superb opener in the 2002 FA Cup final against Chelsea.
Still, it seems a little churlish to overly criticise Rooney's professionalism and to write him off as finished at 31 when he's managed to get this far with a smile/snarl on his face.
There's not another footballer alive who evokes even a smidgen of the snobbery that has followed Rooney around since he stopped looking like a kid that had forgotten his kit and been forced to wear too big shorts. He ceased being cute a long time ago.
By the time he had moved to United in 2004, less than two years after announcing himself to the world with that winning goal the 16-year-old from Croxteth thumped in off the bar against Arsenal to end their 30-game unbeaten run, he had filled his shirt to the point on his debut in red he ripped the neck of it because it was too tight. A 6-2 defeat of Fenerbahce at Old Trafford saw him bag a hat-trick so cocksure in its execution that it seemed impossible anyone but a teenager could have scored it.
—13 years —12 major trophies —253 goals
Wayne Rooney won it all at Manchester United—now it's time for the next chapter 🔴🔵 https://t.co/7Y8StEdEet
Here was a rebel with a cause. The tyro was ready to let it all hang out. The tabloid lens caught it all, good and bad, on and off the pitch.
Smith added: "But much of the scorn he has attracted—and that has, unfairly, slowly eroded his status—had its roots somewhere else: in his roots. England is a country hidebound by class, trapped in a web of nuance and presumption. (David) Beckham, like Rooney, was born of working-class stock, but his was the right kind: aspirational, smiling, petit bourgeois, of the affluent South East."
To the refined football writer and fan, Rooney has always been uncouth. He is "Ingerland" personified, a foul-mouthed sunburnt ringleader of the Golden Generation who proved barely gilded let alone 64 carat. With his summer paunch, booze, cigarettes and giant lollipops, this Stereophonics-loving karaoke devotee has forever and a day been the football hipster's sitting duck. The Scouse Onslow brings out the Hyacinth Bucket in even some of the mildest-mannered and left-leaning of football's scribblers.
Rooney is the council-estate lottery winner who builds an ostentatious mansion in the most exclusive of postcodes. In other countries, ordinary kids with extraordinary talents are lionized; here, in England, they are often fed to them. God, it's depressing.
When literary doyen Martin Amis attempted to capture the zeitgeist back in 2012, via an acidic satire on celebrity-obsessed culture, Lionel Asbo: State of England, the novel's central character resembled Rooney:
"In his outward appearance Lionel was brutally generic—the slablike body, the full lump of the face, the tight-shaved crown with its tawny stubble.
"Out in the great world city, there were hundreds of thousands of young men who looked pretty much like Lionel Asbo.
"In certain lights and settings he resembled, some said the England and Manchester United prodigy Wayne Rooney: not exceptionally tall, and not fat, but exceptionally broad and especially deep."
Last week the Guardian's David Conn sent out a tweet on the topic of the prodigal son's return that was so loaded it should have been accompanied by an emoji of a revolver:
The romance of modern football: Wayne Rooney wants "dream" move back to Everton - for £250,000 a weekhttps://t.co/MIkvtq3zJi
"The romance of modern football: Wayne Rooney wants to move back to Everton—for £250,000 a week," was spat into an echo chamber. The echo chamber spat back giant goblets of distaste predictably pious in tone. It's worth noting here that more widespread reports have the figure at £150,000. Had he offered to donate every penny to charity, he'd have been accused of trying to steal Bono's thunder.
Rooney's options were essentially: stay at Manchester United and earn £300,000 a week to play five-a-side Monday to Friday with his mates and have weekends off; move to either MLS or Chinese Super League and earn the same or significantly more; take a 50 per cent pay cut to rejoin Everton. Mercenary bastard.
Wayne Rooney has the same number of Premier League goals since August 2012 as Luis Suarez. Suarez joined Barcelona on July 11, 2014
If it is true United waived a fee as part of the Lukaku deal, and Everton are paying him £150,000 a week on a two-year contract, notwithstanding any signing-on fee (admittedly likely to be substantial) it should cost them around £15.6 million.
Sure, it's a punt given last season it looked as though the only thing more shot than his legs was his confidence. However, after the eye-watering Premier League television deal, that type of money looks about enough to get an experienced matchday mascot to don furry feet for a season, but it wouldn't buy you much more than that.
After accruing five Premier League titles, an FA Cup, a UEFA Champions League winners' medal, a Europa League title and a FIFA Club World Cup in the 13 years he has been away, the notion that Rooney has nothing left to offer Everton's dressing room is nonsense.
Still, for all the success he leaves behind in Manchester, it feels like rooting for the underdog in wishing Rooney well on his return to Goodison.
