Entering the world just 48 hours after his former Everton team-mate Duncan Ferguson, ex-Blues player Niclas Alexandersson celebrates his 50th birthday.^th birthday today.

The outfielder, who was seized by Walter Smith for £ 2.5m from Sheffield Wednesday delegates, was part of a major midfield renewal at Goodison Park in the summer of 2000.

With Nick Barmby, Don Hutchison and John Collins all leaving the Blues, Smith brought in Alexandersson along with Thomas Gravesen, Alex Nyarko and Paul Gascoigne.

Now a junior coach at Änglagårdskolan in Gothenburg, Alexandersson – who famously scored goals for Sweden against an English team led by compatriot Sven Göran Eriksson at the World Cup finals in 2002 – made 66 appearances for Everton and scored on five occasions.

Since we wish him many happy returns, here is a look back at the other Swedes who have donned the royal blue shirt.

Stefan Rehn

A true pioneer, Rehn was Everton’s first signing outside the British Isles when he joined for £ 400,000 from the 1989 Djurgarden.

Rehn had high hopes for his time on Merseyside and said: “I watch a lot of English football on TV in Sweden and unlike some teams, Everton do not play too many long balls. It should be a good experience for me.”

But despite coming with a great reputation in his home country – he was a regular in Sweden’s team at this summer’s World Cup finals after returning home to IFK Gothenburg – Rehn’s Blues career consisted of only six appearances in a row between September-October 1989.

His last match for Everton was a comeback victory with 2-1 at home against Millwall when he suffered the defect of being replaced by Colin Harvey despite having previously come off the bench himself and he was back on the sidelines when Norman Whiteside made an 86th.^th minute winner about eight minutes after Rehn had made room for Graeme Sharp.

Anders Limpar

If Rehn dominated at Goodison, the same could not be said about Everton’s next Swede, Anders Limpar, who has already established himself in English football as a title winner at Arsenal after stopping in Switzerland at Young Boys and Italy with Cremonese.

A lifelong Evertonian whose schoolboy heroes were Bob Latchford and Imre Varadi (they were both of Hungarian stock), he arrived at Goodison Park on the last day of transfer in March 1994.

Limpar was part of the Blues team that managed “The Great Escape” against Wimbledon just a few weeks later – which gave away a penalty before winning one – and then produced a sparkling performance against Manchester United in the FA Cup final the following year.

Joe Royle described the Mercury Limpar, who played 82 times for Everton and scored six goals, as a “football genius” and the most talented player he has ever worked with.

Jesper Blomqvist

Blomqvist came to Old Trafford as an understudy for Ryan Giggs and part of Manchester United’s Champions League-winning team in 1999. Blomqvist suffered a serious knee injury shortly after Alex Ferguson’s last panting triumph against Bayern Munich that kept him out for two years.

During his time out, he worked as a presenter for the club’s internal channel MUTV and had his own show, ‘Cooking with Jesper’ but hungry to get back on the pitch, he was given a short-term contract by Everton manager Walter Smith in November 2001, and played on the opposite flank to colleague Alexandersson.

Blomqvist played 18 times for the Blues – once netted when he scored the only goal of the match at home against Sunderland in January 2002 in what turned out to be Smith’s last Premier League victory – but his contract was not renewed by new manager David Moyes.

Tobias Linderoth

Linderoth arrived at Everton from Stabaek for £ 2.5m in mantle and dagger fashion in January 2002, and the player had not been aware of the Blues’ interest until the day before his move, which was probably completed under the nose of Premier League rival Newcastle United. and Coventry City among others.

Like Rehn, he was a mainstay in the Swedish national team’s engine room at the time, but despite the fact that he lasted much longer at Goodison, his stay in England remained somewhat overwhelming.

Linderoth played 46 times for Everton over the next two and a half years and scored once, but it is perhaps telling that just a few weeks after his signing, Smith would make another defensive midfielder Lee Carsley his last purchase as Blues boss.

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Robin Olsen

As Sweden’s number one, it seemed a bit strange that Olsen was willing to loan to Everton 2020/21 from Roma to fight for a place with England’s first choice Jordan Pickford.

The 6-foot-5-inch guard looked pretty confident during his 11 appearances for the Blues and Carlo Ancelotti spoke of his eagerness to extend his stay but no deal was made after the Italian’s departure.

Olsen and his family were threatened with a machete by a masked gang – who stole jewelery and a luxury watch – during a raid on their home in Alrincham in March last year, but that did not stop him from returning to England this season with Sheffield in the Championship. . United.