Vellios Is Best Young Player

Greek striker honoured to collect prestigious prize.

Apostolos Vellios hopes his Young Player of the Season award will spur him on to greater heights next term.

The Greek striker came out on top following a vote on evertonfc.com and collected his prize during a ceremony at Liverpool’s St George’s Hall on Thursday evening.

Early in the season, with the Blues shorn of frontmen, Vellios provided a telling glimpse of his talent with a series of impressive appearances from the bench.

A wonderful headed goal against Wigan was probably his most important contribution, but he also notched off the bench against Chelsea and Bolton.

His promise was enough to earn him his first Premier League starts as well, with the 20-year-old included from the off against Fulham and Stoke City.

Now he hopes for more opportunities to show what he can do in the Premier League.

He said: “I really enjoy it here and feel so comfortable here. The players and the manager have been really good to me, so I have to say thank you to them and also to my family.

“When I look at the other players who have won this it makes me really happy and hopefully I can keep doing well and improve at Everton.”

Vellios has been a regular for the Club’s reserves all season and has found the target eight times in a successful campaign for the second string.

That tally included a hat-trick in a 4-2 win at Blackburn and a brace in a 4-0 win at Newcastle.

The Everton Young Player of the Year award was sponsored by Playground.