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Tuesday, August 2 and Everton's squad numbers for 2016/17 are announced.

Oumar Niasse, who wore the number 14 jersey on his fleeting appearances following a switch from Lokomotiv Moscow, was a glaring absentee.

After just 152 minutes of first team football, Niasse appeared to be an ex-Evertonian.

But why did it go wrong so quickly?

Let's rewind to February 1.

The Senegalese striker had just signed a four-and-a-half year deal at the cost of £13.5 million, making him the third most expensive signing in Everton’s history.

If you had heard of him, most probably wouldn’t believe you. Either that or they’d be shocked by your knowledge of the Russian League.

But a quick look at the striker’s season prior to joining Everton suggested he was in good nick.

Niasse managed 12 goals in 21 appearances - not a bad tally at all.

Then you look at the reality of the situation.

One team he scored against was called Amkar Perm. His record looked decent, but he was scoring goals against teams with names similar to hairstyles.

The quality in Russia is simply just not there when comparing it to the intensity of the English League, which made it impossible to know what Niasse might bring.

Once he arrived people were optimistic.

Until they realised they would have to wait to get to see him in action. Oumar was suffering from a wrist injury, which surprised many why that would stop him playing, especially with the stellar performances of Jamie Vardy who was suffering from a similar problem.

Niasse was even quoted as saying he was fine to play, which left Evertonians bemused why they weren’t seeing him.

He eventually made his debut in a 2-0 FA cup win at Bournemouth with just nine minutes left to play. To be honest, you couldn’t really judge any player in such a short amount of time.

Then came the Aston Villa game.

Everton were comfortably leading 3-0 after 60 minutes with cries from the away end, ‘Bring on Niasse.’

The fans understandably wanted to see what he was all about, and against such fragile opposition a great opportunity appeared to have presented itself.

The Senegalese striker came on after 88 minutes.

Once again, how could you judge him?

The following match against West Ham saw Niasse get his longest game time with an exciting 14 minutes to play.

When I say ‘exciting’, I mean for West Ham who were 2-0 down when Niasse came on and somehow ended up winning the game 3-2.

The line ‘three strikes and you’re out’ came to mind.

The result saw Niasse already brutally tarnished in many minds, despite only having played 25 minutes in his Everton career so far.

(Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

The eight matches that followed saw Niasse make two appearances, coming off the bench after 87 and 89 minutes.

It raised the issue of what Niasse actually been showing in training.

Whatever was going on, he clearly was not happy.

Many times during his period at Everton Niasse was seen warming up alone, which made it appear that he was an isolated member of the group.

Once Everton had lost the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United - a match in which Niasse doidn’t even feature on the subs bench - the season was virtually over.

Former manager Roberto Martinez finally saw this as an opportunity to give Niasse game time, despite having already suggested it would be a bonus if the forward played again in the 2015/16 campaign.

He actually started the next two games.

He played an hour against Bournemouth and at Leicester, and was lacklustre in both.

The verdict at this point was not hard to work out.

Many presumed an incoming manager at Everton would quickly see Niasse depart.

In came Ronald Koeman. But Niasse was still here and videos were circulating of the player making some tidy finishes in training.

People were wondering if this could perhaps be a fresh start for Niasse?

Then came the pre-season game against Jablonec.

A line of commentary on 55 minutes stated, “Oumar Niasse turns away from the Jablonec defender but then falls over.”

Arguably a quite neat summary of everything we’d seen of Niasse in an Everton shirt.

And so, with no squad number for 2016/17, the player’s time at Everton looks to be up.

In terms of the man himself it is difficult not to feel sorry for Oumar Niasse.

Yes his performances didn’t light up the world, but he didn’t sign himself for Everton, did he?

Once looked at by Jose Mourinho, Roberto Martinez believed Niasse could cope with the Premier League.

But quite simply, it just wasn’t meant to be.