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Republic of Ireland international Darron Gibson joined Everton on 13 January 2012.
The Toffees captured the Derry-born midfielder from Manchester United for an undisclosed fee, with Gibson putting pen to paper on a four-and-a-half year deal.
After joining United at the age of 17, he made his debut in the League Cup the day after his 18th birthday in October 2005. That season, he helped Manchester United Reserves win a treble, bagging himself the prestigious Jimmy Murphy Award for youth player of the year.
Following season-long loan spells with Royal Antwerp and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Gibson forced his way into Sir Alex Ferguson's first team squad, gaining valuable Premier League and UEFA Champions League experience in recent years.
Partnering Paul Scholes in centre midfield, he helped defeat Tottenham in the 2009 League Cup final, picking up a winners’ medal.
Gibson has an eye for goal and is renowned for his trademark long-range strikes and creative passing. In 2010, he netted against Bayern Munich in a Champions League quarter-final. The following season he scored in the semi-final against Schalke. His first international goal came against Wales in the first game of the 2011 Nations Cup.
Gibson made his Everton debut against Aston Villa on January 14 in a 1-1 draw at Villa Park. He scored his first goal for the Toffees in a 1-0 home win against Manchester City on January 31, 2012.
He then played a crucial role in the heart of the Blues' midfield on the road to the FA Cup semi-final and ended the 2011/12 campaign without tasting league defeat.
Gibson was selected in the Republic of Ireland squad for the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine, but was left on the bench by Giovanni Trapattoni for all three games.
He overcame an injury suffered at the start of the season to become an integral cog in the Everton side in 2012/13.
Gibson netted the opener in a 2-0 victory over QPR in April 2013, his second goal for the club.
He suffered an injury in the final warm-up game but was back in October before signalling an international return when Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni was sacked.
But just over half an hour into his second game back he suffered cruciate ligament damage which required surgery.
Gibson struggled with injuries throughout Roberto Martinez’s debut season in charge of Everton in 2013/14, making just one Premier League experience as the Blues finished fifth in the table.
Those injury problems carried over into the start of the 2014/15 term but he did manage to return and make 14 appearances in all competitions, making a solid contribution in those fixtures to remind fans of what they had missed in the previous campaign.
Eleven Club appearances followed for Gibson the next season, but the midfielder narrowly missed out on Martin O'Neill's final Republic squad for Euro 2016 - despite playing an important role in qualifying for the tournament.
In June 2016, he penned a contract extension to keep him at Goodison Park until June 2018.
Contracted until: June 2018.
