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Shani Tarashaj has built on his growing reputation by being named the Swiss top flight's young player of 2015.

The £3m Everton January signing, who was loaned back to Grasshopper Club Zurich until the summer, was give the award earlier this week.

Tarashaj, 20, was one of three Grasshopper players to carry off gongs on the night, with his exciting attacking play and eye for goal noted by the judges.

WATCH: New-boy Shani Tarashaj in action

His current club manager Pierluigi Tami was named coach of the year, while Breel Umbolo of FC Basel was named best overall player.

The forward has been capped at under-21 level by Switzerland and netted in their 3-1 defeat to England in a European Championship qualifier in November.

Roberto Martinez believes that Tarashaj, a talented playmaker who operates between the lines in the final third of the pitch, will whet fans’ appetites.



After completing the deal to sign him he said: “I would encourage our fans to look forward to a special talent and follow him a little bit from a distance at Grasshoppers while he is playing there, because I feel he is going to bring something very, very special to us.

“He is probably the best young talent in Swiss football.

“There are a couple of young players with a good reputation but I think he could have really good future.”



Martinez added: “He is a very exciting talent. He is going to be 21 next month. We’ve seen him play and we feel he has the talent our fans will enjoy. I’ve seen him playing at Grasshoppers and I can imagine him playing in a similar role at Goodison.

“I feel that he’s going to get fans off their feet. He’s that type of young talent that we like to attract to Goodison.

“He’s doing military service at the moment which means we can’t have him straight away but I think it works well because he hasn’t played too many games so far."