Everton have had lots of amazing players over the years.
Goodison Park has played host to a number of players who were really good technicians, capable of lifting supporters out of their chairs.
When people think about great technical players of the past at Everton, Steven Pienaar often gets mentioned.
The South African was someone Everton fans adored for his ability to get out of tight spaces. He also worked very hard under David Moyes, and Pienaar also had a brilliant partnership with Leighton Baines.
But there was another former Everton player who was certainly technical and tricky who very much falls into the category of a ‘Streets Will Never Forget’ – and that was Yannick Bolasie.
Morgan Gibbs-White ranks former Everton winger Yannick Bolasie in ‘Street players’ list
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
In 2016, Everton signed Bolasie from Crystal Palace in a deal worth around £25 million.
He had made a big impression at Crystal Palace, and the Toffees swooped to make him their fourth major signing of the summer.
Ronald Koeman said at the time of his arrival: “Yannick is a player who has been a long time on my radar because he’s the type of winger I like – fast, strong and he can play different positions in the forward line.”
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Bolasie had made a name for himself as being an extremely tricky winger.
Nottingham Forest ace Morgan Gibbs-White recently sat down to film a new video with Sports Bible on Instagram, where he had to blink rank some ‘Streets Will Never Forget’ players in the Premier League.
These are essentially ‘street footballers’ who have great technical ability and like to do tricks.
In the end, Gibbs-White put Bolasie in ninth.
Gibbs-White’s ranking:
1. Adel Taarabt
2. Mousa Dembele
3. Dimitri Payet
4. Nani
5. Jay Jay Okocha
6. Ravel Morrison
7. Wilfried Zaha
8. Allan Saint-Maximin
9. Yannick Bolasie
10. Hatem Ben Arfa
For Palace, Bolasie would regularly bamboozle full-backs with his quick feet and bag of tricks that very few other players around had.
Evertonians got to see it a little bit during his time on Merseyside, but it was at Palace when he made headlines more often.
Where did Yannick Bolasie go after leaving Everton?
Sadly Everton fans never really got to see Bolasie at his best for the Toffees, with an ACL injury ruining his spell at Goodison Park.
Bolasie left Everton initially on loan in August 2018, joining Aston Villa, but returned early in January 2019. He then headed to Anderlecht for the remainder of that season.
Bolasie then had loan spells with Sporting CP and Middlesbrough before finally leaving Everton permanently in 2021.
Yannick Bolasie for Everton
Appearances – 32
Goals – 2
Assists – 4
He joined Çaykur Rizespor in the Turkish second division, where he spent a couple of years before returning to Swansea City.
It was only a short-term contract though, and Bolasie was on the move again just months later, joining Criciúma in Brazil.
Last Christmas, Bolasie – now 35 – completed a move to another Brazilian club Cruzeiro. They are the 16th club (loans included) of his senior career, and it remains to be seen what happens once his current deal there expires this December.