Oumar Niasse, who was once a £13.5 million ($18m) signing for Everton, has found himself a new club after linking up with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at Burton Albion.
The 31-year-old striker has spent two years stuck in the footballing wilderness, with no competitive action taken in since January 2020.
A humbling fall from grace led to him training with English 10th-tier side West Didsbury & Chorlton at one stage, but he is now back into the Football League and embracing a new challenge.
What has been said?
Ex-Chelsea and Leeds United frontman Hasselbaink, who is the current boss of League One side Burton, has told the Brewers’ official website of bringing Niasse on board: “We are obviously aware that Oumar has been out of training for a while since he left Huddersfield.
“He’s been training with us for a short period and has shown a lot of hunger and desire to get back playing.
“We know he’s made over 50 Premier League appearances, and he’s shown us that he can add something to the squad that we have – hopefully he’ll be a good help for us to finish the season strongly.”
What is Niasse’s record to date?
Everton moved to snap the Senegal international up from Lokomotiv Moscow on the final day of the winter transfer window in January 2016.
He arrived on Merseyside with decent pedigree, having hit 19 goals while in Russia, but never really got going at Goodison Park.
Only nine goals were recorded across four-and-a-half years, with all of those efforts coming in the 2017-18 campaign.
A succession of bosses at Everton refused to put their trust in Niasse, leading to him being released in the summer of 2020.
Huddersfield did snap him up as a free agent in March 2021, but an untimely injury led to him severing ties with the Terriers without making a single appearance.
His last showing was a two-minute cameo off the bench for Everton, but Burton are prepared to offer him a clean slate and an opportunity to get a career that has stalled badly back on track.
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