Everton have confirmed the signing of former Rangers striker Steven Naismith on a four-year contract.
Naismith had left Rangers after the club went into liquidation and rejected transferring his contract to Charles Green’s newco.
Everton manager David Moyes told www.evertonfc.com:
“We are delighted that Steven has agreed to join us. He will be an excellent addition to the players we already have and we look forward to him being fit and ready to play at the start of the season.
“He is an established international who can play in a number of positions. He has a flexibility we always like in our players and which will hopefully prove to be very useful for us.”
Naismith added by stating he is looking forward to life in the Premier League and working with fellow Scot Moyes:
“It is a great honour to be joining a club of Everton’s wonderful history and to have the chance to play with such a talented group of players in the world’s best league: the Barclays Premier League, in front of such a passionate group of fans.
“I look forward greatly to working with the Manager David Moyes and all the staff at Everton and working hard to deliver on the pitch to repay their, and the Chairman Mr Kenwright’s, faith and belief in me.”
The striker suffered from a damaged cruciate ligament in his right knee against Aberdeen in October and has been sidelined ever since.
Naismith had scored an impressive 9 goals in 11 games prior to the injury as Rangers sat at the top of the SPL fifteen points clear of Old Firm rivals Celtic.
However in his absence the clubs season turned upside down and lost three matches in ten following Naismith injury, including a 1-0 defeat away to Celtic, and dropped to 2nd place at Christmas.
Rangers were deducted 10 points for going into administration in February and were banned from playing in Europe the following season
The club went into liquidation in June and a number of key players decided to leave including Naismith.
Naismith made 200 league appearances in the SPL for both Rangers and Kilmarnock scoring 56 goals.
He has been capped at international level for Scotland 15 times and scored on two ocassions. His most recent goal was against Spain in the qualifier for Euro 2012 at Hampden Park in October last year.