Premiership New Boys: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov

Posted by Trevor Cassidy in Featured Articles, Players, Premiership, Premiership New Boys on August 25th, 2009 | no responses

David Moyes has decided to splash some of the cash he’s getting from the Joleon Lescott sale on a crafty Russian midfielder who looks like a dead ringer for Harry Potter. This young lad’s also got some magic up his sleeve – according to his national team coach, Guus Hiddink. And lucky for Everton, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov should be able to make an immediate impact since he’s been playing competitively since March, when the Russian league first started.

Club: Everton (Signed from Locomotiv Moscow for a fee of about £10 million.)

Age: 24.

Upside: During his debut season in 2004, the attacking midfielder helped Lokomotiv win the Russian title, earning the league’s Young Player of the Year award in the process. He can score goals and pass the ball well, but his biggest strengths are his great pace, dribbling skills and confidence in taking on players, which will bring some much craved for creativity to the Everton side.

Downside: How the hell are the Toffees going to squeeze his surname on the back of his shirt?

Pedigree: His father, Rinat, also played football for Lokomotiv Moscow and is currently the club’s reserve team coach.

International Career: Bilyaletdinov has earned 28 caps for Russia since making his debut at the age of 20. He played in every game during Russia’s run to the semi-finals of Euro 2008 and also played in both of the tournament’s qualifying matches against England.