Dominic Fifield talks to the Everton and Nigeria defender about life in the Premiership and his welcome from both Blue and Red on Merseyside
Wayne Rooney had been and gone, Tomasz Radzinski was dotting his final "i" with a flourish and the last of the spring rolls sat soggy and shunned when the man of the moment arrived. Joseph Yobo might have expected to enter the monthly Everton supporters' meal to a round of applause. Instead there were as many anxious faces as there were blue shirts on which to scribble.
His club, sitting dizzy and deservedly in fourth place, and their outstanding manager may insist there is no cause to worry, but Yobo has become the centre of Merseyside's most burning "will he, won't he" debate of the season. Even as he strolls near his home there is no escape.
"I look bigger out on the pitch, so sometimes people aren't sure whether it's me, but when they realise they always ask," he said. "They worry, wondering whether I'm leaving. I tell them I'd love to stay but you never know. Playing for a successful club is all you can ever want, so at the moment I'm happy. What more can I say?"
Yobo was an inspired choice for Moyes' first signing as a top-flight manager. Strong and athletic, all boundless energy and expert positioning, the Nigerian has recovered from a slow start - an ankle injury picked up in pre-season kept him out until late September - to establish himself among the best defenders in the Premiership.
With his gargantuan presence reassuring a back-line once prone to implode, Everton have not conceded a goal in almost seven- and-a-half hours of league football. They will expect to extend that shut-out against West Bromwich Albion's gummy attack this afternoon.
While the 22-year-old remains on loan from Marseille - "I can't see anything stopping him moving here permanently next May," insisted the club's owner, Bill Kenwright, with customary gusto - there will continue to be nervous whisperings in the Gwladys Street. The 12-month loan deal, with an option to make it permanent, cost Everton £1 million, but they will need to generate another £4 million to extend the contract by four years.
"It's all going to the Yobo fund," joked one Goodison employee having sold a £1 club pen to a fan preparing to enter the autograph frenzy.
But the fact that Yobo lives in the same apartment complex as Gerard Houllier - "I've never bumped into him and he hasn't come knocking on my door," said Yobo - has hardly eased Everton nerves. Nor will the news that, despite his impressive asphyxiation of the contrasting threats of England's Michael Owen and Emile Heskey at the World Cup, Reds as well as Blues have gone out of their way to make the centre-half feel at home.
"I'd never played in a divided city before, where you'd expect some people not to warm to me," said the defender, whose stirring performances for a disappointing Nigeria in Japan generated interest from Juventus, Newcastle and Arsenal. "But everyone, even the Liverpool fans, have welcomed me. I can understand the Everton supporters' concern, but I'm having a wonderful time and they've shown me love.
"This was a step into the unknown for me, a big decision to come here because the club has been struggling. But I arrived here and talked to the manager and he convinced me to come. I didn't know of David Moyes before but his ambition shines through everything - the club, the players he signs, the players he already has.
"He has set his sights on great things, on bringing back some of the glories of the past. He is building a team that will be successful, a side with fight and determination, and that's why I came here. I'm ambitious and I can always get better, in every aspect of my game, but I'll keep working hard. I want to play at a European team, and at one of the top clubs. At the moment I am."
Yobo is fashioned from the same mould as his manager - young, dynamic, self-assured - and, like Moyes, has settled serenely into the Premiership. An assured debut against Fulham in September proved the catalyst, his authority swelling with every game. At Ewood Park last Sunday he was utterly dominant, in the air and on the ground, with his side's fourth successive 1-0 league victory, their fifth win in succession, culminating in the defender flinging his shirt gleefully into the delirious Darwen End. The last time Evertonians were demanding an African's shirt, they were spitting with rage at Alex Nyarko's spineless displays.
The Nigerian can appreciate their recent toils. At Marseille he played for France's biggest recent underachievers, a side who struggled pitifully last season. Just over two years ago Marseille fans attacked six of their players - including the captain at the time, Robert Pires - at the club's training camp in the wake of a 5-1 defeat by St Etienne.
"There was a lot of expectancy after what I did at the World Cup and I wanted to justify that to the Everton fans," he added. "But I've started to show my qualities and my confidence. Now I don't feel under any pressure."
Not that those fans waiting for his autograph, tempted as they were to slip him a contract rather than a photograph to sign, can relax. Until that permanent deal is done and dusted the fretting goes on.
Guardian Service
