Will Lacina Traore be a hit at Everton? Read our assessment and offer your own verdict here.
Lacina Traore
From: Monaco
Fee: On Loan Age: 23
Position: Striker
Nationality: Ivorian
Bio
The 6'8" Ivory Coast international has taken a circuitous route to the Premier League since leaving his homeland for Romanian club CFR Cluj in 2008. Spells in Russia followed with Kuban Krasnodor and Anzhi Makhachkala, for whom he scored 18 goals last season including one against Liverpool in the Europa League. Traore joined Monaco on a four-and-a-half year contract at the start of January and has been promptly loaned to Everton in order to continue his development.He says
"It all came about very quickly, quite last-minute. I had a choice to make and this [Everton] has been my choice. What I liked about Everton was their style of play. I like the technical, skilful play which is played here. First and foremost, in terms of what I can bring to the side, I'm a striker and it's all about scoring goals. If you're a striker and not scoring goals, you're not doing your job. I am here to work hard."They say
"His size will give you the wrong impression of the way he is as a footballer. He is technically very gifted, he has a real understanding of the space and combination play around him and is really quick. All those aspects make us a little bit different because we haven't got that sort of player with that presence and height. But we will never change the way we are as a team; our footballing concepts are really clear but the personnel changes bring little tricks and different aspects of our attacking play." - Roberto Martinez, Everton manager.At 6ft 8in, Everton's new loan signing Lacina Traore breaks the record of Birmingham's Nikola Zigic as the PL's tallest outfield player
- Premier League (@premierleague) January 25, 2014