Shefki arrived at Selhurst Park just minutes before the closing of the transfer window in August 2006, when he made the move from Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £2.5 million.

The Finnish international striker was a long term target of Peter Taylor's and the Palace boss admitted he had made a number of inquiries for the player before finally getting the green light to open talks and bring him to south London.

He signed a three year contract at Selhurst Park and immediately stated his ambition to get back into the Premiership as soon as possible after spending a year in the top flight at Ewood Park.

Born in Kosovo, Yugoslavia, but raised in Finland from a young age, Kuqi had worked hard in his career to reach the top level and his determination and will to succeed make him a formidable figure in any team.

He started out in Finland with HJK Helsinki and then moved on to FC Jokerit, where he began to make a name for himself in Scandinavia and Europe. He caught the eye of a number of scouts and several teams expressed an interest in the player before Stockport County brought him to England for a fee of £300,000 in January 2001.

Kuqi made an immediate impact at Edgeley Park, with the Hatters then plying their trade in what is now the Championship. His power, pace and burning desire made him a huge favourite with the fans and he netted 12 goals in 35 starts for the Cheshire club whilst his now infamous 'dive' goal celebration raised more than a few eyebrows.

It was only a matter of time before the bigger clubs came fishing and just less than a year after arriving in England, he was sold to Sheffield Wednesday for a fee of £1 million with a number of other clubs also expressing an interest in his services.

Unfortunately for Kuqi, his arrival at Hillsborough came at a time when the Owls were struggling and he couldn't prevent their relegation to League One in 2003, despite a return of 19 goals in 64 appearances.

His career was revived at Ipswich Town though, firstly in a two month loan spell at Portman Road when he struck four goals in 11 appearances before making a permanent switch to the Suffolk based club.

Under Joe Royle's management, he flourished and was part of the Town side which came so close to winning promotion to the Premiership only to miss out in the 2004/05 campaign when they lost in the play-off semi-finals to eventual winners West Ham United.

He scored 22 goals that season and his partnership with Darren Bent caused no end of problems for clubs in the Championship. A total return of 28 goals in 64 starts saw him finally get his chance to play at the top level, as Blackburn swooped to sign him on the expiry of his Ipswich contract in the summer of 2005.

The stats don't lie and Kuqi never let Mark Hughes down during his year in Lancashire as seven goals in 15 Premiership starts goes to show. However, the arrival of Benni McCarthy, Jason Roberts, Shabani Nonda and Francis Jeffers meant that competition for places was even more intense and Kuqi just wanted to play regular football.

By his own admission, his first season at Selhurst didn't go as he would've liked. After arriving at the club short of match sharpness, it took him time to break into his stride but when on form he showed exactly what he could do and is a player that no defender would like to play against.

With competition for places up front particularly intense, Shefki never really enjoyed a prolonged run in the team, though he did score a number of memorable goals, and spent the first half of 2007/08 on loan at Premier League side Fulham.