ROBERTO MARTINEZ has said Oumar Niasse has not arrived at Everton to be Romelu Lukaku’s understudy.
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| Oumar Niasse and Roberto Martinez shake hands after Everton reach £13.5m agreement |
The Senegal striker became the club’s third most expensive player when he moved from Lokomotiv Moscow for £13.5m on deadline day.
Niasse, 25, will be paraded at Goodison Park before tomorrow’s crucial Premier League game against Newcastle when Romelu Lukaku will spearhead the club’s attack.
Lukaku has plundered 19 goals this season, but Everton manager Martinez insists his new signing will not play second fiddle to the forward.
“He’s not back up for anyone,” said Martinez, who must check on the fitness of goalkeeper Tim Howard after he sustained a knock in training.
“He has his own ability, his own conditions and is someone who can stretch defenders. Physically he can cope with the physicality of the Premier League straight away. He doesn’t need to adapt.
“He has been stopped for the last six weeks because the Russian league stopped on December 10. It has been in a mid-season break.
“We need to get him back to full fitness as soon as we can, but he is a footballer who can open spaces for others and has a real intelligent way of combining in the final third.
“If you look at his amount of assists rather than the goals he is striker who can fit in in different formations – he can play with another striker, he can play on his own, he can play out wide. He’s flexible and at 25 it’s the perfect moment for him to embrace the challenge of coming to Everton.”
Niasse – who has signed a four and a half year contract until 2020 – interested Jose Mourinho before he left Chelsea and West Brom.
The pacey Niasse joined Lokomotiv for £4m in 2014 from Turkish side Akhisar Belediyespor and has scored 13 goals and conjured 10 assists in 23 matches this season.
“We are obviously very pleased to bring in Oumar because he’s someone we have been tracking for a long time,” said Martinez, who will take charge of his 100th Premier League with Everton.
“The first time we saw him was the first week of September and since then we have been very close, trying to find out about his character. He has a very specific family situation. His wife is English, from the North West, and he has been following our team and how we play.
“It was a real conscious desire to join us. That has been very important. We didn’t think he could become available and when we saw he was available we moved very quickly.
“We moved two from the squad and brought someone at 25 who’s been successful in two European leagues. He is going to bring something completely different to what we have in our attacking players; a player with an incredible hunger who will fit in well in the dressing room.”
Kevin Mirallas and Mo Besic will miss the Newcastle game through injury.
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