Ayegbeni Yakubu Bio Send To Friend  

Yakubu completed his £11.25m transfer from Middlesbrough to Everton in August 2007 to become the Merseyside club's record signing.

After being handed the number 22 shirt 'The Yak' said he would try to also make that his goal tally for the season. He made a great start, scoring ten minutes into his debut as Everton beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1, and netted 21 times during the course of 2007/08.

He quickly won over the Everton fans with some bullish performances including a 'perfect hat-trick' (left foot, right foot, header) against Fulham and a double against Newcastle United in the 3-1 win at Goodison on the last day of the season that helped the Toffees clinch fifth place.

Now a proven goalscorer, few could have predicted he would become one of the hottest properties in the Premiership hen Yakubu arrived in the English game in January 2003, joining a First Division side.

In 2003 Yakubu joined Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth on loan from Maccabi Haifa. Earlier in the season he had bagged five goals in the Champions League, including a hat-trick against Olympiakos.

His achievements in Europe's elite competition made Pompey's capture all the move impressive - and he had been linked with several Premiership sides.

By the beginning of April he had already scored seven times, with his class there for all to see, and promoted Pompey made his move a permanent one for an undisclosed fee.

After a slow start to his first Premiership season, Yakubu grew in stature to become one of the real stars of the season. He finished the campaign with an amazing run of form, smashing 11 goals in the final ten games.

A superb, quick and skilful striker, he rounded off 2003/04 with four goals in a 5-1 home win over Middlesbrough, making it 16 Premiership goals for the term - the seventh top scorer in the division - despite being only 21 and missing two weeks on African Nations Cup duty with Nigeria.

His 2004/05 campaign started well with another hat-trick in the third match of the season, a 4-3 home victory over Fulham. He went on to score 17 goals in all competitions - 13 in the Premiership, making him the third top scorer in the division.

His future seemed to be clouded for much of the second half of the season and it later emerged a £7.5million deal with Middlesbrough had been struck in January for the player to make the move in the summer.

He scored his first Boro goal in the 2-1 win over Arsenal in 2005 and finished the season as the club's top scorer with 19 league and cup goals. In his final term with Boro, 2006/07, Yakubu hit 16 goals before heading to Everton.