Apostolos Vellios

Apostolos Vellios

Personal information
Full name	Apostolos Vellios
Date of birth	(1992-01-08) 8 January 1992 (age 20)
Place of birth	Thessaloniki, Greece
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Everton
Number	27
Youth career
2008	Iraklis
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2008–2011	Iraklis	22	(4)
2011–	Everton	16	(3)
National team‡
2008–2009	Greece U-17	3	(0)
2009–2011	Greece U-19	14	(7)
2011–	Greece U-21	6	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 02:38, 15 May 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 October 2011

Apostolos Vellios (Greek: Απόστολος Βέλλιος) (born 8 January 1992)^[2] is a Greek footballer who plays for English club Everton Reserves and the Greek U-21 national team. He has previously played in Greece for Iraklis.

Club career

Iraklis

Vellios started his professional career at Iraklis in 2008.^[2] He made his debut against in a 4–1 away defeat by Skoda Xanthi on 26 April 2009, as he came in as a late substitute for Dimitris Giantsis, for the last round of the 2008–09 season.^[3] His first goal was an equalizer in injury time against Olympiacos in Karaiskakis Stadium on 7 November 2009, to help Iraklis escape with an away draw against the Greek giants.^[4] He was named MVP of the 10th round of the Greek Superleague for his performance in that match.^[5] At the end of the season, he totalled nine appearances for the club, all as a substitute, and two goals.^[6]

Everton

Following interest from Fulham,^[7][8] Olympiacos,^[9][10][11] AEK,^[12][13] and Bologna,^[14] Vellios signed for Everton in January 2011 for a fee of £250,000 on a 4 year deal.^[15] Vellios scored Everton Reserves' only goal in his debut, as they suffered an 5–1 home defeat against Blackburn Rovers Reserves.^[16] Vellios made his first-team debut for Everton against Aston Villa in the Premier League, on 2 April 2011, replacing Jermaine Beckford after 80 minutes. He scored his first goal for the first team in a home 3–1 win against Wigan Athletic on 17 September 2011.^[17] His second goal was scored away against Chelsea after being on the pitch for only 18 seconds, 8 seconds from play being restarted. Once again he appeared as a substitute away at Bolton Wanderers, he scored with a right footed shot to make it 2–0, making it his third goal for Everton after playing just 235 minutes on the pitch.^[18] However he was subsequently completely dropped from the squad by Moyes and pushed into the reserves despite being the top scorer. He currently mainly plays for Everton Reserves, however still holding the Premier League statistic of a goal every 86 minutes, still the highest rate at Everton this season. ^[19]

International career

Vellios has been capped 14 times for the Greek U-19 team and has scored 7 goals for them. His last appearances to date, with Greece U-19, was in the two friendly matches against Macedonian U-19 in January 2011. The first was a 2–1 win for Greece U-19, a game in which Vellios scored the opening goal.^[20][21] The other match was contested two days later and Vellios managed to score twice, in a match that Greece U-19 won by a 3–0 scoreline.^[22][23]

Personal life

Vellios is the son of Kostas Vellios, a former footballer of Iraklis.^[24] He was a student at Aristotelio High School and, on 18 March 2010, by playing for the school team he was crowned champion in the Greek High School Championship.^[25] Vellios is also known for being a lifelong supporter of Iraklis.^[26][27]

Career statistics

As of match played 18 February 2012.

References

External links

• Guardian Football
• Apostolos Vellios – UEFA competition record
• Apostolos Vellios profile in Iraklis' official site (Greek)
• Premier League profile