Darron Gibson

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As a winter injury crisis bit deep into David Moyes squad in January 2012 and took out much of his central midfield and central defence, the Everton manager moved to sign Darron Gibson from Manchester United.

Having made just two League starts for the Champions that season, the Irishman was deemed surplus to requirements at Old Trafford and, with his contract expiring in June, the Blues were able to pick the midfielder up on the cheap. The fee was officially undisclosed but press reports pegged the figure at £500,000, potentially rising to £2M based on appearances.

A product of United's youth system, Gibson would make 50 appearances on loan at Royal Antwerp and Wolverhampton Wanderers before being handed his Premier League debut by Sir Alex Ferguson in November 2008.

He would make sporadic first-team appearances that season, mostly in cup competitions where he scored two FA Cup goals, made his Uefa Champions League debut against Villarreal and picked up a League Cup winner's medal after playing the first 90 minutes of the Final against Tottenham which United eventually won on penalties.

His first League goal came in last match of the 2008-09 season against Hull City and that helped him earn a three-year contract extension. He would remain on the fringes of the first team at Old Trafford for the next two seasons, though, despite netting Champions League goals against Bayern Munich and Shalke.

Having stirred conrtroversy by electing to play for the Republic of Ireland over Northern Ireland where he was born, his international manager Giovanni Trappatoni advised him that in order to further his career he would have to move away from United.

That opportunity came when Everton came knocking and in a struggling team had had every opportunity to prove he could be a driving force in a Premier League midfield.  He went straight into the side for his Everton debut at Aston Villa, despite having played so few games, but aquitted himself reasonably well until he faded in the second half. 

A succession of more quietly effective appearances followed as Gibson quickly established himself near the top of Moyes's automatic picks for team selection — and Everton remainded unbeaten in seven games with him playing alongside Maroune Fellaini; Darron was credited as being the catalyst for a significant improvemnet in the Big Belgian's game. The run included one trademark blistering goal — against Premier league leaders and Champions elect, Manchester City.

That was until athletic pubalgia reared it's ugly head and laid him low for a month. But he came back to join in the surging run to Wembley, with a series of quietly effective displays at the core of cenrtral midfield that gave Everton an indefinable strength and resilence, manifested in his increasingly impresive unbeaten record.