STRIKER Ben Everson has passed up an opportunity to play Europa League football to sign for York City.

Middlesbrough-born Everson helped Icelandic top-flight team Breidablik qualify for next season’s UEFA tournament during the Nordic country’s 2012 campaign that ended in September.

The 25-year-old, who plays as an orthodox centre forward, joined Breidablik from second-tier side Tindastoll, having previously played university football in the United States for West Texas A&M University but, according to City boss Gary Mills, he is now determined to be successful in his homeland.

About his first signing in the January transfer window, Mills said: “He’s a good player who has been with us for a month, but we’ve kept things quiet to see how he did.

“He’s got better and better in that time and done very well, so we have taken him until the end of the season and are hoping to get international clearance in time for Saturday’s home game against Aldershot.

“He likes to score goals and has done that wherever he’s been. He works very hard and gets in good areas.

“He’s hungry and has the desire to do well.

“He could have carried on playing in Iceland’s top division and in the Europa League but he wants to make a name for himself over here.”

But the League of Ireland trialists Mills was hoping to run the rule over during a reserve friendly at Sunderland today will not get the chance to impress after the game was frozen off.

On that disappointment, the City chief added: “The game’s off, which is a bit of a blow for us because we’ve had the Irish lads over and it’s possibly been the worst week to do that weather wise because it’s been difficult to train but you can’t dictate nature.

“We’ve organised a game against Scunthorpe for next Tuesday and I’m hoping they can play in that.

“I know all about them anyway but, ideally, you want to look at them in a match situation.”

The match would have also represented a chance for defender Chris Doig and striker Oli Johnson to get game time after recovering from their respective ankle and groin injuries.

Centre-back David McGurk, meanwhile, has not trained since being stretchered off with a neck injury at Cheltenham on Saturday but Mills remains optimistic that he will be fit for the weekend.

The City manager added that there had been no further inquiries about Jamie Reed since his transfer request and also revealed that he has not yet begun talks with any of his players who will be out of contract at the end of the season.

Under the Bosman ruling, any player in that position is now free to talk to other teams about their plans for next season but Mills said: “I’m not looking at that now.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do this season and all our effort has to be focused on getting points in this division to see where that takes us.

“I’m trying to improve the squad with a couple of signings if I can to take us until the end of this season and I have no thoughts on talking about next season.”