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Socceroos captain Lucas Neill is delighted to be rejoining his “best friend in football” Tim Cahill after signing with Everton.
Neill finally ended his long, wide-ranging search for a new club when he signed a one-year deal with the English Premier League club on Thursday and will be available for Sunday’s match against his former team, Blackburn Rovers.
The defender saw some career symmetry in linking with Socceroos teammate Cahill’s club as they also started their careers in English football together.
“Tim didn’t need to convince me to come here,” Neill told evertonTV.
“The record in the last few years at Everton speaks for itself and David Moyes is a manager I respect highly so it ticks all the boxes.
“Of course there’s an appeal with Timmy here, he’s one of my best friends and probably my best friend in football, so to be in the same team as him again is great.
“We started out our careers together at Millwall and, who knows? We may end our careers together at Everton.”
A free agent after his contract with West Ham expired at the end of last season, Neill will wear the No.23 shirt at Everton.
He was presented to the Goodison Park crowd at halftime during their 4-0 Europa League group stage win over AEK Athens.
No fee was disclosed, but Britain’s Daily Mirror reported on Thursday Moyes had moved for Neill with an offer of STG40,000 ($A76,000) a week, a considerable cut from his wages at West Ham.
The 31-year-old passed a medical at Everton’s Finch Farm training ground earlier in the day and offers a welcome solution to Moyes’ injury crisis in defence after Phil Neville damaged knee ligaments against Fulham on Sunday.
Neill established himself at right back in the Premier League, but can also play on the left, or in the centre of defence as he does for his country.
He is the fourth permanent addition to the Everton squad following the off-season signings of Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Sylvain Distin and John Heitinga.
Sydney-born Neill has made 50 appearances for Australia.
After starting his career at current League One side Millwall, he moved to Blackburn Rovers in 2001.
He then made 79 appearances for West Ham during his two-year spell with the East London club.
Earlier this year, Neill reportedly turned down a one-year contract extension with the Hammers.
He was linked with moves to a host of clubs in recent weeks, including Harry Kewell’s Galatasaray, Sunderland, Real Zaragoza and Atletico Madrid.
The length of Neill’s search for a new club attracted criticism from some quarters, with suggestions his excessive wage demands proved a stumbling block, but his management team denied he was motivated by money.
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