Periodically - often around the time England go out of World Cups or European Championships - the “traditional” British centre-forward is deemed obsolescent but, like denim, they are never out of fashion for long, and the target man will always have his place in the Premier League, as Everton will be reminded this afternoon.

One difference these days is that they tend to be foreign as often as not, agents abroad delighting in flogging coals to Newcastle or wherever, and the best of the breed here at present are Didier Drogba, from the Ivory Coast, Emmanuel Adebayor, from Togo, Nigeria’s Ayegbeni Yakubu, Roque Santa Cruz from Paraguay and last, but not least, the 6ft 5in John Carew of Norway and Aston Villa.

Carew crosses broadswords with Yakubu at Goodison Park today, when Everton and Villa do battle for three points that will go a long way towards deciding which of them finishes fifth in the league and qualifies for next season’s Uefa Cup. The table favours Everton, who have a three-point advantage, but form encourages belief in Villa, who have won their past three games, rattling in 15 goals. Carew has scored three of them, two in the 5-1 rout of Birmingham last week, and is confident of adding to his tally against an Everton team on the slide, with one win in their past six.

An interesting character who has had seven clubs in nine years, Carew’s cosmopolitan background is increasingly familiar in British football. His father is from Gambia, his mother is Norwegian, and he was born and raised in Norway, where he burst on to the scene at 18, scoring 10 goals in 14 games for Valerenga. Egil Olsen, who enjoyed considerable success with the Norway national team, and rather less at Wimbledon, was the Oslo club’s manager at the time.

Carew has played for some fascinating characters, from Olsen through the man he calls his mentor, Rosenborg’s Nils Arne Eggen to Rafa Benitez (Valencia), Fabio Capello (Roma), Vicente Del Bosque (Besiktas), Gerard Houllier (Lyons) and Martin O’Neill.

From Valerenga he moved to Rosenborg, where 18 goals in as many games and some impressive performances in the Champions League brought him his big break, with Valencia. Arriving at the Mestalla in 2000 as the classic rough diamond, he learnt quickly under the tutelage of Hector Cuper, and from playing alongside Didier Deschamps, Kily Gonzalez et al. In the Champions League, Carew’s goals were instrumental in getting Valencia to the final, where they lost on penalties to Bayern Munich, a game he describes as “the biggest moment of my career and also the saddest one”. En route, he put out Arsenal in the quarter-finals, scoring in the second leg in Spain.

The following season, with Benitez now in charge, Valencia won La Liga and a year later Carew again spiked the Gunners’ Champions League hopes, this time scoring twice to deny them a place in the last eight. His star very much in the ascendant, Liverpool tried to sign him, but he turned them down. “Houllier came in for me but I have no regrets about not going,” he said. “Valencia were the better team at that time, winning the championship and getting to Champions League semi-finals and finals, and when you are playing well for a club going for the European Cup, you don’t want to leave.”

He did move on for 2003-04, but only on loan. “I was given the chance to go to Roma, which was a big opportunity,” he explained. Carew scored seven goals in 25 appearances as Roma finished runners-up to Milan in Serie A. They tried to make his transfer permanent, but were unable to do so. “They wanted to sign me but they were almost bankrupt,” he said. “That season we had to wait five months for our salaries to be paid.”

Instead, it was next stop Istan-bul and Besiktas. “My contract was up at Valencia so I was free to go,” he said. Why Turkey, after Spain and Italy? “Del Bosque from Real Madrid was there. It was his presence that persuaded me to go, he was one of the hottest managers in Europe at the time. He had won everything at Real and they sacked him after they’d won La Liga. Crazy.”

Again Carew stayed just one season, scoring 13 goals in 24 matches. He enjoyed his time out east but was not about to resist when Houllier came calling a second time, on this occasion on Lyons’ behalf. “I was happy to leave for one of the strongest teams in Europe, as Lyons were at the time. It was logical for me to go there.”

He got off to a flying start with a hat-trick against Auxerre in the Super Cup and goals in each of his first three games in Ligue 1. But although Lyons were champions, a modest return of nine goals in 34 games made him only third highest scorer, behind Brazil’s Fred and the ageing Sylvain Wiltord. By January 2007, Houllier was happy to swap him for Villa’s Milan Baros.

Lyons’ loss is proving to be Villa’s gain. Carew settled into English football with three goals in 11 matches at the back end of last season and, after a slow start when it took him to the end of September to open his account, he has been key to Villa’s recent resurgence, scoring 12 times in 29 league games this season.

He agrees that the style of English football suits him well. “I’ve adapted successfully wherever I’ve been but this is the most competitive league,” he said. He revelled in the team spirit that was serving Villa so well under O’Neill. After playing in countries where the attitude was to look after No 1, the camaraderie of the Premier League was a new and inspirational experience.

“We depend a lot on team spirit at Villa,” Carew said. “I have found it much better after being in teams that cruised to the league title. At Valencia and Lyons we were cruising through the first stage of the Champions League as well and sometimes that makes players drift off into their own little world. Not here. We have to be together 100% all the way to get results, and when we play like that it’s a fantastic experience.”

O’Neill was the architect of this spirit. How does he compare with Houllier, Benitez and the rest? “Martin is completely different. All my managers have been different but, luckily, they have all been winners. They have all been able to bring the best out of every player but in different ways. In management there is no way that is right or wrong, all that matters is if the method works.

“The most important thing for any manager, as far as I know, is to make players believe in themselves, to believe in the team, their individual qualities and the tactical plan. That’s Martin’s great strength. It’s what makes only a handful of managers really successful. Their magic is to get all the players performing to 100% of their ability.

“Only Manchester United have scored more goals than us in the league, we’re in good form, so we know we can go to Everton, keep a clean sheet and score goals. It is a big, big opportunity for us to grab that Uefa Cup place. I’m looking forward to a great finish to the season.”