David Moyes was apparently shocked when he examined his new £11.25million signing Yakubu, to find that the player was lazy. Although this won’t come as a surprise to anyone with even a passing knowledge of Premier League football, Moyes was apparently so shocked by Yakubu’s slacker attitude that he relegated him to the bench for last weekends game at Aston Villa. And when the Yak did come on, he was his usual self – Leighton Baines remonstrated with him for not chasing a wayward pass, and the Yak generally meandered around like a jetlagged tourist in a crowded airport.
When asked about Yakubu Everton’s Assistant Manager Alan Irvine said :
“He has responded really well to being left out, and that’s what you hope for from players…We are a hard-working team, and we need all of our players to do a very committed and totally honest job when they are out there…We also ask them to do not only their own job, but to help other people out as well…I’m sure Yak will fend to that. He seems a great lad.”
Irvine went on to claim that being dropped was like water off a duck’s back to Yakubu (as long as the Yak gets to pick up his paycheck). Irvine said:
“He trained in a very small group of lads yesterday of lads who hadn’t played, and was terrific…While today he has come in with a smile on his face and there has been absolutely no problem.”
And lest David Moyes forget the ‘talented’ Dane Per Krøldrup, who he scooped up from Udinese for £5million. Evertonians looked forward to a player who was , as Moyes put it: “young, enthusiastic and keen to improve”, what they got instead was a player who was scared to head the ball, and eventually featured in the Times’ 50 worst football transfers, at number 1!
Who the heck is doing the scouting for Everton!?
Perhaps Moyes should realise that although the Yak is a bona-fide goal machine, he scores these goals with the minimum possible amount of effort. He is a player who benefits from a hardworking side, not contributes to it.
And he is lazy. Really, really lazy.