Horne pays tribute to Moyes’s transfer acumen

Aug 16 2007 by Mark Currie, Liverpool Daily Post

EVERTON FA Cup winner Barry Horne believes David Moyes will be taking nothing for granted from their flying start.

The former captain of Wales said: “ Despite Everton’s dream start to the new campaign I’m sure manager David Moyes will be approaching the season with more than a little anxiety, particularly when he considers the size of his current squad. And the memory of two seasons ago when Everton last qualified for Europe won’t be too far from the surface so he will be hoping history does not repeat itself.”

Then they were knocked out at the first round stage from the Champions League and the Uefa Cup. Unfortunate in meeting the strong opposition in both tournaments Everton were victims of a refereeing howler against Villarreal and then guilty of a mad 45 minutes at Dinamo Bucharest.

Horne added: “Even so the experience resulted in them struggling for the remainder of the Premiership season and the current campaign has already been blighted by injuries to key players Tim Cahill and James Vaughan.”

Moyes has a couple of weeks before the transfer window closes , but Horne admitted: “I can understand his reluctance to pay inflated prices for players and, to be fair, his activity in the transfer market stands up to close scrutiny.

“It seems to me he is always looking to bring in good, young players who have yet to reach their peak and both the recent newcomers, Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines, are in that mould. But the best bit of business during the summer was in tying down Mikel Arteta and Cahill to long-term deals. The Australian international has already proved his worth and Arteta, the player of the year in his first season and joint winner last season, is again demonstrating he is pivotal to the team.”