Andrei Kanchelskis Facts Position: Right midfield/forward Born: Kirovograd (Ukraine), 23.01.1969 Nationality: Ukraine Height: 5'10" (178cm) Previous clubs: Shaktor Donetsk (Ukraine); Manchester United: League Apps 123 Gls 28 Cup Apps 38 Gls 8 Joined Everton: July '95 (£6,000,000) Honours: Full Russian caps, English Premiership Champions medal Left Everton: January '97 (£8,000,000 -- Club Record) New Club: Fiorentina (Italy) Strengths: Weaknesses: Tremendous speed Good turning agility Excellent ball-control Brilliant dribbling Vicious shot Must run onto the ball Poor defensively Shies from hard tackles Ultimately selfish Crosses rarely

When Andrei Kanchelskis joined Everton for the start of the 1995-96 season, it was to a great fanfare of appreciation and excitement.  Here was a world-class player of flair, skill and above all speed who had fallen out of favour with Alex Ferguson as the Old Trafford double winners came unstuck.  Kanchelskis had been overlooked in a team that had fallen at the final hurdle for the Premiership, and was unable to break open Everton's Wembley fortress.  

Everton's joy soon turned to tears of frustration, however, as a row flared up about who was to pay a £1,500,000 bounty to the Ukrainian's first club, Shaktor Donetsk.  This was a sell-on clause that United had agreed upon, but now chose to renege, presumably as a final slap in the face of a player whose mysterious injuries they could never quite pin down.  After five disastrous weeks that kept Kanchelskis out of the Everton side, this sordid business was finally resolved.

But Manchester United had another sweet arrow of revenge in their quiver.  No sooner was Kanchelskis storming down the right wing in his new Royal Blue shirt, than he was cruelly upended by Lee Sharpe and sent hurtling onto his shoulder. Dislocated: Out for another six weeks.

With the season half over, Kanchelskis finally started to deliver on that exciting promise, and the faith shown by thousands who had purchased replica shirts bearing his name and the number 17 from the new Everton Megastore -- and what a place to first show his mettle:  Two goals against Liverpool, the first a lovely header in off the post, the second a more characteristic drill and blast, right in front of the Anfield Kop.  

Kanchelskis went from strength to strength, becoming Everton's leading scorer in his first season with 16 goals, including a hat-trick in the end-of-season demolition of Sheffield Wednesday 5-2 away.  Many of the goals bore the same characteristic hallmark: he picked up the ball on the right, cut inside, jinked past a defender or two, and then lashed an unstoppable shot past a bemused goalie who would have sworn he had that near post covered.

But for all his efforts, Everton had missed perhaps the greatest arena for Kanchelskis to ply his wares: Everton did not qualify for Europe in 96-97.  Everton once again suffered for the misdemeanours of others, as England were stripped of an additional place in the Uefa Cup because Spurs, Wimbledon, and Sheffield Wednesday had fielded weakened teams in the Intertoto Cup fiasco.

And so to Euro-96.  The competition that bought such promise as football "came home."  But for some strange reason, the Russian coaches decided to ignore Andrei's lightening goal-scoring form.  Instead, he was played in a deep midfield role and, on one bizarre occasion, as right back.  Russia floundered out of the competition in the first round, and Kanchelskis left the national squad bitterly disappointed.

He looked to the new season to regain his confidence, and everything seemed to auger well when he drilled four goals past Wrexham in a pre-season friendly.  But the season for Kanchelskis was to be one long struggle to regain lost form -- dogged almost from the start by the murmourings of Italy and the thought of pastures new.  

It all came to a head in the most unfortunate way during against Bradford City in a Fourth Round FA Cup tie at Goodison Park, when Kanchelskis was mysteriously the last line of defence, forced under pressure to play the ball back into space.  His pass was seized upon by an alert Chris Waddle, who ran 20 yards across the field to chip a beautiful shot over the beleaguered Neville Southall and into the net, putting Everton 2-1 down and on their way out of the Cup to lowly opposition yet again.

In the end, it became inevitable: Joe Royle said that Andrei had not been right in the head.  Peter Johnson held out for the full £8,000,000 to more than recoup the loss of his star player, and Kanchelskis was on the plane to Florence.  Kanchelskis returned a week later to wrap up his affairs on Merseyside, and apologize about that Bradford City gaffe... but no-one was listening anymore: the Flying Ukrainian had flown away.

Many felt that, towards the end, he had become uncommonly selfish, and was no longer playing with pride in the blue shirt of Everton.  There were the usual rumours of strife on the team, and it would show on the field, with Kanchelskis sometimes getting no support whatever from his "team-mates." This was a sad end to the brief Everton career of one of the most scintillating players in recent times -- a player who could have been central to Everton's Nineties recovery under Joe Royle.