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Pienaar seals permanent move to Everton

  • Story Highlights
  • Loan midfielder Steven Pienaar signs for English club Everton on three-year deal
  • UEFA Cup hopefuls agree to pay Borussia Dortmund $4 million for the player
  • South Africa international had been at Goodison Park on a season-long deal
  • He has scored twice in 35 appearances, impressing manager David Moyes
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(CNN) -- UEFA Cup hopefuls Everton tied up the permanent signing of South Africa midfielder Steven Pienaar on Tuesday.

Steven Pienaar has signed a three-year contract at Everton to make his loan deal permanent.

The English Premier League club have agreed to pay a $4 million fee to German Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund to turn the player's season-long loan arrangement into a long-term deal.

The 26-year-old, who moved to Goodison Park in July, had been concerned that the transfer would not be completed before the end of this season, meaning that a new fee would have had to have been negotiated.

The club's manager David Moyes said that although the amount had previously been agreed, there had been problems with Pienaar's agent's fee.

But now Pienaar, who has helped Everton into fifth place this season with a series of impressive performances out wide, has signed a three-year deal until July 2011.

He has scored twice in 35 appearances, with Everton also reaching the League Cup semi-finals and the last 16 of the UEFA Cup.

Moyes told the club's Web site: "Steven has done well for us. He is one of the reasons our football has improved. He is a really good football player."

Moyes also needs to resolve the future of another loan midfielder, Manuel Fernandes, the UK Press Association reported.

The Portuguese playmaker has made 12 appearances since joining from Spanish club Valencia in the January transfer window, and has been a regular in recent weeks due to the club's injury problems.

Veteran midfielder Lee Carsley has been linked with a move to relegated Derby for next season, PA reported, with the 34-year-old not expected to accept Everton's offer of a new one-year contract. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

All About Steven PienaarEverton FCBV Borussia DortmundSouth AfricaEuropean Football

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