Middlesbrough's most expensive signing in a £5.25 million deal in June 1995. Middlesbrough Barmby set up the first competitive goal at the new Riverside Stadium for Craig Hignett. Barmby stayed at Middlesbrough for 17 months, before heading to Everton, who paid a record fee of £5.75 million for him, a small profit on the price they paid for him. Everton In his first season at the club, Barmby and his new team found themselves in a Premier League relegation battle. However, they survived with a 15th-place finish as Barmby made 25 league appearances and scored four goals. He managed just two goals from 30 appearances the following season as Everton finished just one place above relegation. Injuries restricted him to appearing in just 24 out of 38 league appearances in 1998–99, as he scored three goals. His final season at Goodison Park saw him miss just one league game and find the net nine times, though Everton finished only in 13th place. On 26 February 2000, Barmby scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win against West Ham United. After nearly four years at Everton, during which Barmby played 114 league games and scored 18 goals, he headed across Stanley Park to Liverpool for a fee of £6 million on 19 July 2000. It was the first time since striker Dave Hickson in 1959 that Everton had sold a player to Liverpool – although six players had moved in the opposite direction in the 41 years between Barmby's transfer and that of Hickson. Manchester United also expressed an interest in signing Barmby to cover for their missing players at the start of the 2000–01 season, but they were eventually outbid. Liverpool Barmby was involved in Liverpool's successful season of 2000–01 in which they won the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup. He scored against his previous club Everton in the Merseyside derby in October 2000, and scored a penalty kick in the shootout against Birmingham City in the League Cup Final. An injury picked up in the FA Cup semi-final in April put his participation in the FA Cup and UEFA Cup finals in doubt. In the end he was left out of the FA Cup final squad but was on the bench for the UEFA Cup Final. The following season he started as Liverpool won the 2001 FA Charity Shield. However after persistent injury and lack of form blighted