Sigurdsson: I will not repeat Spurs struggle at Everton

Gylfi Sigurdsson has promised to avoid reliving his difficult time at Tottenham after signing for Everton.

The Iceland international has also indicated that he has no regrets about the manner of his departure from Swansea, despite withdrawing from their pre-season tour of the United States last month.

Everton broke their club transfer record by paying £45million to sign Sigurdsson on Wednesday, with manager Ronald Koeman indicating that the midfielder still needs time to build up his match fitness.

It means that the new signing is likely to be on the bench when Everton visit Manchester City in the Premier League on Monday, although he is expected to feature in their Europa League play-off second leg match against Hajduk Split in Croatia on Thursday.

Sigurdsson was expected to make a significant impact at Tottenham after joining them from Hoffenheim for £8.8 million in 2012 following a successful loan spell with Swansea, but was unable to establish himself as a regular in the team, and ended up returning to the Liberty Stadium on a permanent basis two years later.

Paul Clement, Swansea’s head coach, warned earlier this summer that Sigurdsson should remember his Tottenham disappointment before leaving Swansea a second time.

The midfielder said: “What was I? 20, 21 maybe, so I’m far from being the same player now. But I did enjoy my time at Tottenham. I’m not going to lie. It was a fantastic experience. I could have probably stayed on but I wanted the chance to go back to Swansea and play football again. I wanted to use my time as a professional, because your career is short. I wanted to go out and play every week and that worked out well.”

Sigurdsson’s move to Everton has been one of the more drawnout transfers of the summer, with his withdrawal from Swansea’s summer tour coming as a deal looked close, only to be held up.

His decision not to travel to the United States came an hour before Swansea’s players were scheduled to leave their London hotel to fly out on tour, and drew a surprised reaction from the club at the time.

“I think the clubs were close to agreeing something, so there was no point in flying out there just to fly back the day after,” Sigurdsson said. “But that was kind of the story of the summer. They were getting close, and then nothing happened.”

Everton and Hajduk Split have both been charged over the crowd disturbances that marred Thursday’s Europa League match at Goodison Park. Play was suspended in the 33rd minute of Everton’s 2-0 first-leg victory as fans in the away end charged towards the pitch. No date for the hearing has been set.