Gylfi Sigurdsson not concerned by £45m transfer fee but admits wait for Everton switch 'mentally difficult'

Everton's club record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson is delighted to have finally completed his move to Goodison Park from Swansea City after having to play the waiting game as the two clubs wrangled over a fee.

Sigurdsson's £45m move to Everton was announced on Wednesday (16 August) much to the delight of manager Ronald Koeman, who confirmed that the Icelandic international will be included in the Toffees' squad to face Manchester City on Monday.

The former Swansea talisman will not start the match at the Etihad Stadium after missing most of the Swans' pre-season due to the ongoing transfer speculation but does not think it will be too long before he is completing 90 minutes at Goodison Park, a ground where he once moonlighted as a ball boy.

"It's taken a while, it was difficult mentally sometimes to get this over the line but I'm here now so I'm delighted," Sigurdsson said in his press conference.

"I got the chance to come over and train for a couple of days and to be a ball boy. I enjoyed it and will remember for the rest of my life, being next to the pitch was incredible and it gave me the feeling that this is what I want to do when I'm older. I'm very happy to finally be here. It's a big club, and it's something I wanted to achieve in my career."

Asked if he will feature against Manchester City, Sigurdsson said: "Maybe not 90, you normally start with 45 and increase it, but I've been training for five or six weeks and training really well, but I need more time before I am able to play 90 minutes."

Much was made over the fee Everton paid in order to prise Sigurdsson away from Swansea, but the 27-year-old claimed to be nonplussed by the astonishing amount of money involved in his transfer to Goodison Park and is only interested in performing well for Koeman's men.

"Personally it's not up to me how much the club pays, I put the pressure on myself to play well for the team, that's all I need and is the only thing I focus on." Sigurdsson said.

Swansea were extremely reluctant to part with their esteemed talisman but their coffers have now been swelled by his eventual departure. Swansea boss Paul Clement decided to exclude Sigurdsson from the majority of his side's pre-season friendlies this summer due to the swirling speculation, but the former Reading academy product was keen to stress that he was always honest with his former manager and is grateful the south Wales outfit allowed him to "look elsewhere".

"I think me, Paul and all of the staff had a really good relationship," said Sigurdsson, addressing the media for the first time since his £45m move.

"We always talked directly to one another, there was no going behind each other's backs or anything, we always had honest conversations.

"After a very difficult season last year, it was possible for me to have a chance to look somewhere else."

Sigurdsson will find plenty of competition for a place in the starting line-up under the Dutchman, with fellow summer signings Wayne Rooney and Davy Klaassen both competing for a central attacking role at Goodison Park.

Rooney in particular will be tough to displace after enjoying a productive start to life back at his boyhood club but Sigurdsson is relishing the prospect of playing with Manchester United's all-time leading goalscorer, who may have his position tweaked in order to accommodate the former Tottenham star.

"The club has high ambitions and you can see that, over the last couple of years the squad has got bigger and stronger and we want to continue progressing," Sigurdsson added.

"Of course, he's been a fantastic player for Everton, Manchester United and England, he doesn't get the credit he deserves. He's one of the players I'm really looking forward to playing with."