Gylfi Sigurdsson

Location: Reykjavik, Iceland

The midfielder spends his Christmas holidays back home in Iceland with his family. (Image: Instagram)

Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, he spent his youth career with hometown side FH and later Breiðablik before signing for English club Reading FC's academy in 2005. After spending a couple of seasons playing for the reserves he signed his first professional contract with the club ahead of the 2008/09 EFL Championship season. He spent the season on loan to EFL Two side Shrewsbury Town and later EFL One side Crewe Alexandra gaining valuable experience playing competitive football. His displays earned him a place in Reading's first-team for the 2009/10 Championship season during which he was outstanding, the Ice-Man made 38 appearances in the league and scored 16 times in addition to giving 9 assists, while also contributing to the clubs extraordinary FA Cup run with wins over Liverpool, Burnley and West Brom, finishing the season as Reading Player of the Season. He moved to Bundesliga side 1899 Hoffenheim in the 2010/11 season after 4 appearances and 2 goals for Reading. Starting off with a 20-yard free kick on his second game, he scored a further 8 times and assisted 9 goals in 29 Bundesliga fixtures to finish as Hoffenheim Player of the Season. After having a fallout with his manager during his second season in Germany he moved to England on loan with Swansea City. On his debut for The Swans he set-up the winning goal in a 3-2 victory over Arsenal. His rich vain of form saw him become the first Icelandic player to win Premier League Player of the Month in March 2012, 7 goals and 5 assists in 17 Premier League fixtures convinced Swansea to make the deal permanent, but the move collapsed after manager Brendan Rogers quit Swansea for Liverpool. Instead the Ice-Man would join Tottenham Hotspur, he'd never be at his brilliant best with the London outfit with whom he spent a couple of seasons, making 58 Premier League appearances, scoring 8 and assisting 4 goals. He was back with Swansea City ahead of the 2014/15 season, his opening match set the wheels in motion as the Ice-Man set-up the opener and scored the winner in Swansea City's victory over Manchester United, over the next three seasons his calibre shone through, a 106 Premier league appearances littered with 27 goals and 25 assists saw him win Swansea City Player of the Season back-to-back in 2015/2016 & 2016/17 season. In August 2017 the Icelandic midfielder signed for fellow Premier League club Everton for a fee of £40 million. His debut season was about making adjustments and fitting in to a new surrounding, he finished the season with 27 appearances 4 goals and 3 assists, a poor return by his high standards, but as always the Ice-Man would bounce back and his second season would see him feature in all 38 of Everton's Premier League fixtures, scoring 13 and assisting 6 goals.