During David Moyes’ first spell at the club, Everton were widely considered one of the best teams in the Premier League.
Everton were consistently challenging for the European spots and even qualified for the Champions League in 2005.
David Moyes and his scouts managed to sign some really talented players for relatively low transfer fees as they had to operate on a limited budget.
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The Toffees recruited the likes of Mikel Arteta and John Stones for just a few million pounds, evincing how successful their model was.
They also boasted a lot of brilliant centre-forwards during that time, although one of them has just revealed he almost left for Chelsea.
Yakubu almost left Everton for Chelsea
Everton shelled out in excess of £11m to sign Yakubu from Middlesbrough back in 2007, which was actually a club-record deal at the time.
The then 24-year-old was only second to Thierry Henry in the Premier League top scorer charts over the previous four seasons.
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Yakubu ended up netting 33 goals in just over 100 games for Everton, but he’s recently shared the fact that he almost left Goodison Park for Chelsea.
“I was unlucky not to play for Chelsea. I got a chance to sign for Chelsea, and then I got injured,” the Nigerian explained.
“I ruptured my achilles and I didn’t play for 11 months. They were negotiating a fee for me, about £15 million, so I didn’t play, and that was gone. I was crying in the dressing room because it was my time to play for one of the bigger clubs.”
Yakubu suffered that devastating injury just a year after signing for the Toffees, so it appears there was a deal in place to join Chelsea in 2008.
Yakubu almost became a 100-club Premier League striker
Looking back at Yakubu’s career makes you realise what a top striker he was during the prime years of his career.
The former Toffees star actually netted a whopping 95 Premier League goals, almost putting him in the elite 100-club.
That’s only eight goals fewer than what Cristiano Ronaldo managed in England’s top flight, and they played a similar number of games.
Everton could certainly do with a Yakubu this season, as Thierno Barry and Beto are nowhere near his level.
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The £60m duo have scored just one Premier League goal between them, so Moyes is in the market for a striker this January.
Troy Parrott, Joshua Zirkzee, Ivan Toney and Richarlison have all been linked with a move to the Hill Dickinson over the last few weeks.
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