Salut!

I cannot tell you how happy I am to be playing football again - just being out there again is a fantastic feeling. Everything has happened in a bit of a whirl, arriving at a new club and having new team-mates, and I have had to settle in very quickly.

I spent a long time at a club where I was not given the chance to do anything special, so now that I have arrived at Everton I want to show everybody that there is still plenty of magic left in the Ginola feet!

It is very much a case of so far, so good, and all I ask is that I am given a bit of time to get back to full fitness. Since arriving at Goodison Park I have played two full games - yet before that I had not completed 90 minutes since playing in the InterToto Cup final for Aston Villa last summer. But when I left Villa Park, the physio Jim Walker told me that with my body shape and strength I can play at the highest level for another two years.

I am looking forward to doing my best for Manager Walter Smith and his assistant Archie Knox because they seem to trust me, and believe in me, and it makes such a difference.

The people on Merseyside have been great to me, and I have also been given a very warm welcome by Paul Gascoigne. The best way I can sum him up is to say he is unpredictable both on and off the pitch. He is a very talented player, and also a very entertaining person, and he reminds me of life back in Newcastle because of his Geordie talk.

Gazza keeps everyone on their toes, and I have to check my bag whenever I am in the dressing room. I also cannot go to the toilet without checking that there is no bucket of water on the door, waiting to drop on my head!

This weekend I will achieve something special if I am in the team to face our biggest rivals Liverpool. During my career in England I have played in a North East derby, a London derby and a Midlands derby, and on Saturday I hope to play in a Merseyside derby - that will give me quite a collection!

Then it is on to Crewe for an FA Cup fifth round replay, and if we play to our capabilities then hopefully we can come through that and look forward to a quarter-final at Middlesbrough.

I have played in only one cup final in my English career, when I won the Worthington Cup with Spurs in 1999, and it would be a dream to play in the FA Cup final - especially against either Newcastle or Spurs! I shall do everything possible to finish the season on a high and give the best of myself to Everton, but at the end of the day it is a team effort and we all need to be on the same wavelength.

There is only one slight down side to my transfer to Everton, and that is the fact I have moved further away from my family, who are still living in London. But it is only for an initial three month period, and then we can have a great summer together.

In any case, they are used to me being away now, after I spent a year-and-a-half in Birmingham. Should I stay longer at Everton then I shall move my family up here and we can be together again, but I don't have to worry about that right now. They are currently skiing in sunny France during the half-term school holidays, so that can't be bad!

Enjoy the weekend!

A bientôt,

David Ginola.

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