Thinking of the less obvious ones, Enner Valencia I thought was an embarrassing panic buy and turned out alright. Even though he didn't actually score many goals, I seem to remember a few games when he came on and his pressing changed the game in our favour.
Landon Donovan I thought would just be a squad player, maybe a bit of a marketing stunt and he turned out to be quality. We'd signed Anton Peterlin and Cody Arnoux as two random Americans so I figured it was more of a push towards laying foundations in the US.
And then I remember a lad playing his first game for us in a friendly against AEK Athens; he whipped in two amazing corners, and in the pre-match notes Moyes described him as a winger with an excellent turn of pace. That man was Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, he of the running-through-treacle gait. Wand of a left peg, but I always thought he was gonna do more for us than he actually did
I thought George Green was gonna be in the Everton squad for years, paying all that money for someone so young?! He must be good
Finally, I thought Antolin Alcaraz was an excellent bit of business on a free transfer...
