Former Premier League flop books shock move to NON-LEAGUE Macclesfield FC... seven years after the £55K-a-week outcast was left without a locker and made to train with the U23s after being frozen out

Former Everton flop Oumar Niasse has signed for non-league Macclesfield Town in the culmination of the forward's titanic fall from the Premier League to the lower rungs of English football.  

The club, who currently sit fourth in the Northern division of the Non-League Premier league - the third division of the National League, and the seventh in the football pyramid - were delighted to announce their ensnaring of the 33-year-old, who was featuring at League Two outfit Morecambe until the end of last season. 

A statement shared by the club confirmed that the striker would feature for the Silkmen on a short-term deal subject to league approval, and was full of hope that Niasse would be able to boost the quality of manager Alex Bruce's side. 

'Boasting a wealth of experience, Niasse will be able to share his expertise from making over 50 appearances at the highest level,' it read. 

'The former Senegalese international provides a real threat with his pace and power and adds real quality to Alex Bruce's squad.' 

The announcement marks a sharp contrast to the one made by the Toffees in 2016, when the club made him their then-third most expensive signing with a £13.5million move from Lokomotiv Moscow. 

Recruited by Roberto Martinez, Niasse's stuttered start to life at Goodison Park was hampered by a persistent wrist injury. 

But rather than make a fresh start ahead of the 2016/17, Niasse was deemed surplus to requirements by incoming manager Ronald Koeman after making just one appearance in pre-season. 

Niasse's freezing-out by the Dutch manager was so severe that the striker wasn't given a squad number or a locker, and he was forced to train with Everton's under-23 side. 

Koeman later asserted: 'If he likes playing football, then he needs to leave Everton', after Niasse's failure to secure a move away during the summer window of 2016.  

Instead, he stayed, and during his four-year tenure at the club, Niasse made just 42 appearances in blue, and his time was peppered with loan spells to Hull City and Cardiff City, as the player failed to replicate the talent that saw him named Russia's Player of the Year in 2015. 

Niasse does, however, have the dubious honour of being the first player in the Premier League to have received a red card for 'successful deception of a match official' after the FA's rule change in 2017. 

Falling down the club's attacking pecking order due to the preference for forwards such as Yannick Bolasie and later Cenk Tosun, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the Merseysiders opted release the player in 2020. 

Following a period on the sidelines as a free agent, Niasse signed for Huddersfield in March 2021, only to fail to make a single appearance for the side. 

A 2022 move to League One outfit Burton Albion saw him score three in his 12 appearances for the Brewers after he was signed by then-manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for his impressive 'hunger and desire'. 

As before, however, the club opted not to offer the former £55,000-a-week player an extension on his deal.