Rooney deserves more credit, says record Everton signing Sigurdsson

New Everton signing Gylfi Sigurdsson believes team-mate Wayne Rooney deserves more respect for his achievements during his career.

The Iceland international completed a move from Swansea City this week in a club-record deal reportedly worth £45million.

The 27-year-old is the eighth signing made by manager Ronald Koeman in a hectic transfer window, during which Rooney made a return to his boyhood club after 13 years at Manchester United.

Sigurdsson is relishing the prospect of playing alongside England's record goalscorer and feels he has not always been treated fairly given his success.

"He's been a fantastic player for Everton and Manchester United and the national team and I don't think he gets the credit he deserves," he told a news conference. "But he's one of the players I look forward to playing with."

Sigurdsson is relieved to have signed a five-year deal at Goodison Park following a protracted transfer saga, although he insists there is no bad blood between himself and Swansea boss Paul Clement.

"Me and Paul and all the staff there had a really good relationship, there was no going behind each other's backs or anything," he said. "After a difficult season last year, if there was a possibility for me to look somewhere else, I wanted to be open to it.

"The club [Everton] has high ambitions and it's been making the squad stronger. We want to continue the good progress from the last couple of years.

"It's always been a tough club to play against. The manager has got really good experience as a club and a player. It's a club that's on the rise and I want to be a part of that."

Koeman expects Sigurdsson to help to ease the burden of losing last season's top scorer Romelu Lukaku, who left for United in a deal reportedly worth an initial £75m.

"He was on my list for a long time. He was one of the key players to bring to Everton," he said.

"We had a top goalscorer last season and we tried to bring in players who will bring productivity to the team and he's one of those players.

"I'm really confident he'll bring that to make the team stronger."