Belief In Getting Better

With new signing Cenk Tosun on board, and key players returning from injury, Sam Allardyce is looking forward to a strong second half of the season from Everton

- Sam Allardyce

Sam, let’s begin with the signing of Cenk Tosun. He said when he arrived that it feels great to be an Everton player and he can’t wait to show fans what he can do in an Everton shirt. You must be really pleased to have completed that business early in the transfer window, particularly as January can be a tricky time to bring in players?

I’m really pleased that we were able to bring Cenk to the Club. The lad looks like he is strong mentally and has a good pedigree. He is Turkey’s No.1 striker and has scored goals in the Champions League and the Turkish League, but he was desperate to play here in the Premier League. He is an all-rounder, with good movement. He is two-footed, perhaps not the biggest but he’s very efficient in the air and in the box he gets good space to get his head on the ball. We looked at the qualities of the player, his talent and goalscoring, and his resilience, too. I do not think you can look any more than we have done and, for the price, he is the best in Europe at the moment. We wanted to bring in a centre-forward during this window and we’ve managed to do that. Hopefully, he can score the goals we believe he can. That’s why we’ve brought him here.

Injuries have been an issue for the team this season. In fact, we’ve had players miss more games in the Premier League this term through injury than any other side. But a positive development has been the return of Yannick Bolasie, who showed particularly in our FA Cup game at Anfield just how much we’ve missed him for the past 12 months.