Everton new boy Nikica Jelavic up for Premier League challenge

The Croatian international believes he can adapt to the rigours of English football with the Toffees after a £5.5m move following two successful years in the SPL with Rangers

2 Feb 2012 17:38:00

By Simon Sinclair

More On :  Everton, Rangers, Nikica Jelavic

Everton new boy Nikica Jelavic insists he is up to the challenge of the Premier League after completing a reported £5.5 million from Rangers on transfer deadline day.

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The Croatian international is hoping to improve the Toffees' potency in front of goal and believes he can adapt to playing in England after two years in the SPL where he scored 30 goals in 45 league games.

When asked about his aims, Jelavic told reporters: "Goals, goals and more goals. I know Everton have not scored much this season but I don't feel the pressure, I like a challenge.

"I will do my best to score many goals. I am always looking to be better every day and my ambitions are to play well and to be useful for the team and score as many goals as possible.

"I know it is a big difference but I think in Scotland you also have to be 100% and they also have tough games.

“Playing in Scotland helped me a lot and I think I am ready. The Premier League is something on a higher level and I hope it will be good for me. I don't think I will need time to settle."

The 26-year-old also revealed he offered to stay with Rangers but, due to their perilous financial situation, the club were forced to sell him.

He added: "It is a difficult situation for them, I know, and I heard inside information about them having problems.

"I spoke with [the Rangers manager] Ally McCoist and said if the president wants me to stay I'll stay and if they need money and want me to leave I'll leave – the club decided."

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With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.

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20:06 BST
So, that game gave a few players a chance to impress for England. Who did/didn't? Will Welbeck start against France? Or Carroll? Or Defoe?!

19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
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