England international Tony Cottee became the most expensive player signed by a British club when he moved from West Ham to Everton for £2.2m in August 1988, but he now admits that he hated the pressure that tag brought with it.
After scoring 92 First Division goals in 212 appearances for West Ham in his early career, the 23-year-old Cottee attracted the attention from some of the best clubs in England. Everton shelled out a record fee in order to bring him to Goodison, which Liverpool broke just weeks later when Ian Rush returned to Anfield from Juventus for £2.7m, with Cottee settling in relatively well on Merseyside.
He managed 18 goals in 54 appearances in all competitions during his first term at Everton, but he now admits that the tag of being the British transfer record signing, even for a limited time, weighed heavily on him.
Tony Cottee 'struggled' to deal with being record signing
"I didn't like being a record signing," Cottee said when speaking to BetSelect. "It wasn't something I was comfortable with. I was a decent player. I was a very good goal scorer on my day and all that stuff, but Gazza [Gascoigne] had gone a month before from Newcastle to Tottenham, and he was the best player. I wasn't the best player.
"There were some great players, the likes of Alan Shearer, and Roy Keane, who possibly loved being the record signing. They probably thought, 'That's great. I'm the top boy.' [But] it wasn't for me. So I really struggled with the pressures of that.
"I wasn't happy with being the record signing. I think sometimes the fans don't always appreciate the off-field side of the game."
Joining a side that a few years beforehand were winning league titles and FA Cups certainly didn't help Cottee's plight, with his six seasons at Everton ending trophyless.
He returned to West Ham at the start of the 1994 season having scored 99 goals in 241 appearances for Everton, a more-than-respectable return for a striker in that era, let alone someone who struggled to settle and come to terms with the price tag. He also earned seven caps for England between 1986 and 1989, though failed to score for the national team.
Cottee's £2.2m move looks like a drop in the ocean when compared to the current British transfer record of £115m, paid by Chelsea when signing Moises Caicedo from Brighton.
