Everton forward Yannick Bolasie makes long-awaited return
Yannick Bolasie has made his long-awaited return for Everton, more than a year after suffering a knee injury that curtailed his first season on Merseyside.
The Congo international, who joined the club in a deal worth up to £30million last summer, came on as a substitute in the Blues Under 23's clash with Leicester on Monday.
Bolasie made 16 appearances for Ronald Koeman's side before rupturing the cruciate ligament in his knee against Manchester United on December 4, 2016.
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Yannick Bolasie (third from left, hood down) made his long-awaited injury return on Monday
The 28-year-old played for Everton Under 23s a year on from suffering a serious knee injury
After two operations and 11 months on the sidelines, the 28-year-old returned to training in November and has now finally begun playing again.
Bolasie came on as a second-half substitute on Monday, replacing Dennis Adeniran in their 2-1 defeat.
'Playing again was overwhelming,' Bolasie told the club's website. 'When I got on I felt good. I knew about two weeks ago I was going to play in this game so it's good.
'There wasn't any nerves! Now that I've played the 30 minutes there isn't any. Maybe before there was some because it's been a long time. Training is training – it's totally different in the matches when it matters so, yes, I'm happy.
Bolasie had been out since damaging his knee against Manchester United last December
'I want to be with the (first team) boys. Right now the team is doing really well so you're going to have to try to fight your way in but there's no rush for myself. I know what my role is because a year out in football means it will be a month or two before I'm really back at it but the main thing is that I feel okay.
'Just the smell of grass again in the game was great.'
The Congo international was deployed as a second striker by academy coach David Unsworth for the clash at Leicester's training base.
But he was unable to prevent the visitors suffering a late collapse on their way to defeat.
Fraser Hornby opened the scoring for Everton during the first half on Monday. The goal looked to be enough to send Unsworth's side second in Premier League 2.
But Yohan Benalouane scored twice in the final six minutes to secure victory for Leicester.