New Everton signing Christian Norgaard has revealed he is carrying a small injury but hopes to make his debut for the club soon. The midfielder spoke at the Men in Blazers live event with Roger Bennett at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday.
Injury and Debut Hopes
Norgaard, who joined from Arsenal for an undisclosed fee understood to be £7million on August 5, did not feature in any of Everton's friendlies. He was joined on stage by team-mates James Garner, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and fellow summer signing Hayden Hackney, in front of an audience that included chief executive Angus Kinnear and technical director Nick Cox.
Asked about his fitness, Norgaard said: "I have a small injury at the moment but soon, hopefully I'll be ready and I can't wait to get out there for the first time. We're hopefully close, I can't really put a time frame on it. I feel like we are getting very close, so not too long."
Arteta's Influence and Shirt Number
Asked what Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, a former Everton midfielder, told him about the club, Norgaard said: "He told me many amazing things about the club and about the manager he knows very well, the culture of the club and the fans of the club. Eventually it felt like a no-brainer for me to come here."
The 32-year-old also revealed he took the number 23 shirt because former club captain Seamus Coleman was "a fantastic player." He explained his motivation for joining Everton: "A lot of it comes to proving to myself. Having had that role in the changing room over the last year was a different experience and I enjoyed it, but I also missed playing football."
Set-Piece Ambition
Bennett showed a clip of Norgaard heading in a goal for Brentford from a long throw-in in their first Premier League game against Arsenal in 2021. Norgaard believes Everton can emulate that prowess: "I don't know what the secret is but it's something I've developed over my career and being at a club like Brentford where they worked so intensely on set-pieces made me learn a lot. Hopefully I can bring this to Everton because there is so much height and so much size in the team. I don't see why Everton should not be one of the best teams in the league when it comes to set-pieces."
