Steven Naismith has officially left Everton for Norwich City, the fee undisclosed but rumoured to be around £8.5m. It’s a good deal for the Toffees if that is the price, a substantial sum for a player approaching 30 who wasn’t in Roberto Martinez’s first-choice XI, but the Scotland international will be missed nevertheless.

Naismith’s career at Goodison Park goes down as a curious one. Signed by David Moyes in 2012 when Rangers imploded, Naismith struggled initially. It became clear that the right of midfield wasn’t his position – too lacking in pace to provide the thrust needed from wide – and he didn’t have the appearance of an out-and-out striker either. Playing just off a lone centre-forward would prove to be Naismith’s best role but it wasn’t one he was able to fulfil under his fellow Scot – that was Marouane Fellaini’s domain.

Moyes left for Manchester United in the summer of 2013 and eventually took Fellaini with him, and it was the arrival of Martinez from Wigan Athletic that led to Naismith’s best times in Everton blue, and the finding of his best position. Martinez from day one has encouraged Everton to play passing football – a departure from Moyes’ more direct approach, though Moyes wasn’t the Neanderthal he’s sometimes characterised as.

Naismith in time showed himself to be a crafty player, capable of clever, quick passes in tight areas and with subtle, hard-to-track movement. He could have been tailor made for a Martinez team in that regard, and there were games when Naismith was out of favour that could have been turned by his introduction. Opposition defences learned to sit deep and get men behind the ball to frustrate Everton and prior to the emergence of Gerard Deulofeu’s devilish crosses, it was an easily stifled team.

But Naismith didn’t always get the nod and the gap in the squad he could have filled created by Fellaini’s exit was quickly taken by Ross Barkley. Martinez is enamoured with the young England international and understandably so, but Barkley is very much on a learning curve and the performances don’t always live up to the hype. Naismith never held the same faith of the manager, who picks Barkley week in, week out, almost no matter what.

Naismith, by comparison, scored a hat-trick against Chelsea in September and then disappeared. He didn’t even start that game, entering only as a substitute when Mo Besic went down injured. Naismith scored all three against the soon-to-be-ex-champions, from an unfamiliar left midfield role, and was barely seen again. As parting memories go it’s not a bad one to have, but there’s the feeling Naismith’s tenure could have been much more.