Moyes hits out at ‘irresponsible’ buys

Jul 13 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

David Moyes (158)

DAVID MOYES has blasted the “irresponsible” spending of some Premier League clubs that is hampering his chances of bolstering Everton’s squad this summer.

The Goodison manager has made only one significant foray into the transfer market so far with last week’s £4million capture of Phil Jagielka from Sheffield United. But Moyes admits the amount of cash being splashed by many of Everton’s top-flight rivals is inflating prices and making it difficult for him to afford reinforcements of sufficient quality.

Everton were forced to admit defeat in their attempts to sign Jason Koumas earlier this week when West Bromwich Albion accepted a mammoth £5.3m offer for the Wales midfielder from Wigan Athletic, while David Nugent, who had also been tracked by Moyes, left Preston North End for Portsmouth in a £6m deal.

And the Everton manager, who is working within tight financial constraints, will not have been enthused by reports yesterday that another Goodison target, Manchester United’s Kieran Richardson, could be the subject of a £5.5m bid from Sunderland.

With the likes of Fulham, West Ham United, Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Manchester City joining Manchester United and Liverpool in spending heavily, Moyes has revealed his frustration at what he believes are artificial prices in the market.

“I think there has been some irresponsible buying and spending by some clubs and it makes it a bit more difficult if you’ve got less money to spend than that,” said the Everton manager.

“We’d like to add to the squad and I know the supporters are desperate to see new faces coming in, no more so than me, but things out there in the market are tight.

“But we are certainly doing everything we can to strengthen the squad and give ourselves a chance. We’ve done it that way for the past few years and we’ll continue to do so.

“I’ve been a supporter, in fact I still am a supporter, but we’re always quite cagey here and we don’t give too much away partly because people know that we don’t have the funds to compete at the top end.”

Everton return from their training camp in Florence later today in preparation for their first pre-season friendlies tomorrow.

With games arranged at Bury and against a Northern Ireland XI, Moyes will split his first-team squad to ensure his players have a full run-out.

And skipper Phil Neville said: “It’s always important to get 90 minutes under your belt. Maybe when we play Preston the gaffer will give most of the lads 45 minutes or 60 minutes but the first game is a big part of your fitness.

“I would say that from the five or six games before the start of the season you need to get three or four 90 minutes under your belt.”

Neville will be part of the squad that travels to his home town of Bury tomorrow, and he added: “It’s funny because no matter how much older you get that first game always brings the feeling of butterflies in your stomach and Saturday will be no different.

“Bury may be in League Two but they will still want to come out and beat a Premier League team and there will be a good crowd.”