Injuries no doubt left Alessandro Pistone wishing he had never joined the Blues, and it is interesting to think about what might have been had he avoided them. Before joining the Toffees he spent three years at Newcastle United, featuring heavily under Sir Bobby Robson after having been frozen out of the set up by Ruud Gullit. Signing in July 2000 for £3.5 million, the Italian appeared in the first game of the season before succession of injuries limited him to just 8 appearances in his first season at the club with the following season being mostly missed through injury as well. Although he eventually managed to overcome his injuries and feature in most of Evertons successful Champions League qualification in 2004/05, a cruciate knee ligament injury quickly ended his Everton career after just three more appearances. He failed to make an appearance after that injury, having made just 103 appearances in seven years on Merseyside.
