Mikel Arteta Bio Send To Friend  

Arteta completed a permanent move to Everton in the summer of 2005 after an impressive spell on loan at Goodison Park and quickly became one of the club's star players.

Initially deployed as a pivote or deep lying midfielder Everton manager David Moyes converted Arteta into an attacking winger/midfielder and at the end of the 2006/07 campaign he scooped his second Player of the Season Award from the club.

The Spanish midfielder moved to Merseyside from Real Sociedad in a £2million deal after weeks of negotiations - and one stage it looked as though the move would break down over the player's wage demands.

The playmaker and dead-ball specialist is became an essential part of the Toffees' creativity and during his 38 game 2006/07 season he contributed nine goals and 13 assists to highlight his importance to the team.

He battled against a stomach injury during the 2007/08 season but still chipped in with four goals and seven assists in 35 starts.

Arteta began his career at Catalan side Barcelona but was soon on the move after failing to make the breakthrough at the Nou Camp.

He had two loan spells with Paris St Germain, initially for the second half of the 2000/01 season and then for the entire 2001/02 campaign.

PSG were confident of landing the midfielder on a permanent basis but it was Scottish side Rangers which won the race as they sealed a £5.8million transfer in the summer of 2002.

The Spaniard made his bow for the Gers in a 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park and went on to score 14 goals in 68 games during a two-year spell in the Scottish Premier League.

In the summer of 2004, Arteta returned to La Liga when joining Real Sociedad for an undisclosed fee.

But Arteta found it hard to break into a struggling side and made only three starts, and played 479 minutes football, in La Liga by January as Real coach Jose Maria Amorrortu favoured the hard-working style of Mikel Aranburu and Mikel Alonso, the brother of Liverpool's Xabi.

Everton moved in with a surprise late bid on transfer deadline day that month to sign the player on loan until the end of the season with a view to a permanent deal.

The midfield playmaker had a contract with Sociedad until June 2008 but found it hard to adapt to the Primera Liga and to a system of play that hadn't suited him.

He made his Everton bow in a 2-2 draw at Southampton and went on to play 12 games, netting against Crystal Palace, before the move became permanent.