Oumar Niasse has made a surprise move to League One side Burton Albion.
The striker has signed for the Brewers after impressing on trial. It is a far cry from when Everton once forked out £13.5million on the Senegal international back in 2016.
Niasse was signed after impressing for Lokomotiv Moscow but he failed to shine on Merseyside. After being loaned out to Hull and Cardiff, Niasse was released in 2020.
After a disaster stay with Championship side Huddersfield last year, he's now pitched up at the Pirelli Stadium. Burton have not disclosed the length of his deal.
“We are obviously aware that Oumar has been out of training for a while since he left Huddersfield," Burton manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink told the club's website.
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“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.”
Niasse will be hoping for a new lease of life after his Huddersfield stay proved a damp squib. He joined the Terriers in March 2021 but failed to make a single appearance after suffering a freak groin injury in a friendly against Rochdale - after slipping and doing the splits during the exhibition game.
Speaking about the injury at the time, Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan said: "The scan result was not positive. It will be around eight weeks for him to make the recovery from the injury.
"We don't expect to have him from now until the end of the season.
"It's clear that we found a reason to sign him, and in the preparation for the friendly game we were thinking about using him but obviously he is now injured."
Niasse was eventually released by Huddersfield and went on to train with North West Counties Division One South side West Didsbury in his bid to find a new club.
Last year 31-year-old spoke about his time at Everton, where he scored nine goals in 42 appearances. He was especially critical of former manager Ronald Koeman.
"He was difficult," Niasse said of Koeman. "He took away my shirt number to give to another player.
"He told me: 'You don't eat with us. You're going to eat with the under-21s.' A lot of things happened, even beyond that... Some stuff to see if I was going to give up, to push me to the edge.
"It was really difficult, when you don't understand why this guy is doing that. It wasn't something I could understand.
"Koeman told me I'd better find a club, he didn't think I was good enough to play for Everton."
Niasse could possibly make his debut on Saturday when Burton, who are 12th in League One, head to Ipswich Town.
