Tuesday 1 September 2009, 16:28
by Matthew Gamble @efc_mattgamble
John Heitinga will become Everton's fourth signing of the summer after a deal was finalised to bring the Dutch international to Goodison Park.
Everton and Atletico Madrid agreed a £6m transfer fee, which could rise to £7m, for the 25-year old defender late last week whilst personal terms were tied up over the Bank Holiday weekend.
>Heitinga Image Gallery
>Heitinga Player Profile
Heitinga has signed a five year deal after passing a medical examination and brings experience of playing at the highest level to Merseyside when he arrives back at Everton after the international break.
Blues boss David Moyes told evertonfc.com he was delighted to have Heitinga on board.
"We are really pleased to have him with us," said Moyes. "He is an experienced and versatile player who can hopefully fill a number of different positions in the team. I am sure he will be an exciting signing for us."
John at Goodison Park with his new shirt
Heitinga arrives in the Premier League as one of Holland's most experienced defenders, racking up nearly 50 caps and occasionally captaining his country. He can play at both his preferred central-defensive role and at right-back, having fulfilled both positions successfully for his country.
A graduate of Ajax's famous academy, he made his senior debut at 17 and went on to establish himself as a regular for the Amsterdam side, spending five years playing alongside Steven Pienaar before the South African left for Borussia Dortmund.
During his time in Holland, Heitinga won the Eredivisie twice and the KNVB Cup - the Dutch equivalent of the FA Cup - three times.
He was voted Holland's player of the year in 2008 and went on to join Atletico from Ajax that summer for a fee of €10m.
Unfortunately, Heitinga will be unable to play for Everton in the Blues' Europa League Group Stage games having already featured for Atletico in the Champions League play-off round earlier this season. Should Everton progress though, he could figure in the latter stages of the competition.
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The views below are submitted by registered users of evertonfc.com and do not necessarily reflect the views of Everton Football Club.
ned mccarthy
Great, i think we have one of the best squads in the league, hetingas a very good signing, distin solid, an the russian should be great also, once arteta, jags, yak an anichebe are back we have the strongest squad everton have had in my 19 years as a fan, the 3 strikers if on their game are fantastic as they all bring diffrent options, jo - height, strength, control, yakubu - pace, aggression, workrate, an saha is the most natural finsher in the league on his dfay, COME ON EVERTON UP AND ONWARDS
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Tuesday 8th Sep 2009 10:31
Agree with ned?
jo turner
Really pleased with all the new signings we made,would've liked more to come in tho due to the small squad we've got.The one thing that concerns me tho is we left it to the last day yet again before bringing players in,these should be in before we start pre season training.The club also said we don't to sell to buy,yet soon as we sold lescott we started buying players and yet again Bill kenwright hasn't spent a single penny in the market thats 2 years running now.All we've done is sold players to buy players,so i'd like to no where's all the money going to from the tv deals,premiership prize money and we also got to a cup final so where's that money gone to??
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Friday 4th Sep 2009 13:32
Agree with jo?
Damon Godbeer
18 million euro's & benega will be ours, give Valencia there money bk they paid for him, they loaned him straight out to Atletico when they signed him, they would of won the title if he played for them last season!!!!!!! Bring him to Goodison...
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Thursday 3rd Sep 2009 14:24
Agree with Damon?
Richard stenhouse
A good signing for the club, glad he has signed for us, hopefully this will improve our defence and give more competition for Yobo, Distin and co. Despite our lack of numbers we will do it this season and bang it! COYB
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Wednesday 2nd Sep 2009 21:15
Agree with Richard?
mike campion
were missin mikel alot,wen he fit we sud play 4-4-2 billy on left pienarr on right cahill an mikel in middle,yak up top wif saha,but we can we play big fellaini lol
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Wednesday 2nd Sep 2009 20:39
Agree with mike?
Xenophon Law
Memo to Mr Murphy...Seeing as Moyes plays 5 in midfield, we only have Bilyletdinov, Fellaini, Arteta, Pienaar, Osman, Cahill, Gosling, Baxter and Rodwell to choose from. With the Europa League, Carling Cup, FA Cup and Premiership to aim for, I don't think that's enough. We'll have to use the younger players for the Carling Cup and FA Cup and focus on the League and Europe.
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Wednesday 2nd Sep 2009 18:20
Agree with Xenophon?
brennan finnegan
Agree with Peter Mowforth - who isnt stupid at all- a s Charlie Lacey says. Other way round. Banega may have come if it was made financially possible. We needed someone like him rather than cover for our best player Peanuts.
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Wednesday 2nd Sep 2009 18:20
Agree with brennan?
Xenophon Law
Here's a question.....what happened to Manuel Fernandes?!? After the falling through of his transfer due to that 3rd party structure, we got him on loan again when Arteta was injured and he played brilliantly. Where is he now and would anyone here want him back? I would. He showed a lot of bottle to return here after the breakdown of his transfer. A true Blue.
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Wednesday 2nd Sep 2009 18:15
Agree with Xenophon?
Charlie Lacey
Peter Mowforth - are you really that stupid! banega would of fit in well yess, but seriously! he wouldnt have come and valencia didnt even hear anything about him leaving and when they finally did, there wasnt enough time to buy a replacement! but i just hope heitinga is as goood as people say.
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Wednesday 2nd Sep 2009 17:06
Agree with Charlie?
Malik Uddin
he got zero out of ten in his last game???
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Wednesday 2nd Sep 2009 16:41
Agree with Malik?