Allardyce: Rooney giving what all Evertonians wanted

Everton boss Sam Allardyce has expressed his delight at Wayne Rooney’s goalscoring form.

On Wednesday Rooney netted for the 10th time in all competitions since rejoining the Toffees over the summer as they secured a 1-0 Premier League win at Newcastle.

That was three days on from England’s record goalscorer netting the equaliser in the 1-1 Merseyside derby draw at Liverpool.

Allardyce was watching from the stands at Goodison Park on November 29, ahead of being appointed as manager the next day, when Rooney scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 thrashing of West Ham, which included an outrageous strike from inside his own half.

And Allardyce said ahead of Monday’s home clash with Swansea: “I think he is what we all wanted, what all the Everton fans wanted and what Wayne wanted, being an Evertonian – that he would come and show his worth.

“He has got goal of the month (the long-range effort against West Ham) and his contribution in goal terms has been invaluable to us getting to where we are.

“I don’t think we are over-blessed with goalscorers and certainly Wayne in the position he is in at the moment is our main threat in terms of scoring goals against the opposition, and long may that continue.”

Another man who Everton recruited over the summer was Gylfi Sigurdsson, brought in from Swansea for a fee believed to be around £45million to become the Merseyside outfit’s record signing.

The Iceland playmaker has struggled to make a positive impact for much of the time since but has been delivering some improved performances of late.

A protracted transfer saga saw Sigurdsson’s pre-season disrupted before he finally completed the move on August 16.

Allardyce said of the 28-year-old: “I think his difficulty was the late arrival and settling-in period.

“He had to play catch-up with his fitness and then that doesn’t deliver the sort of performances we all know he can produce.

“You have to be patient in that way, and it seems like he is coming to the top end of his match fitness now, and of course his abilities in the final third are what we are looking to get him to show and prove more and more as time goes on.”

Meanwhile, Everton have announced defender Morgan Feeney has signed a new contract to keep him at the club until the summer of 2020.

The 18-year-old, who has been with Everton since he was seven, made his senior debut in last month’s Europa League match against Atalanta, and came off the bench again against Apollon Limassol last week.