David Moyes pleased to see marathon campaign finish

Jun 23 2008 Nick Smith

DAVID MOYES received a welcome boost ahead of Everton’s pre-season preparations when his African contingent emerged largely unscathed from their final round of World Cup qualifiers.

Victor Anichebe had to go off with a chest injury after 40 minutes of his full competitive debut for Nigeria in their 2-0 win over Equatorial Guinea, but he is out of Everton’s first two games of the season because of Olympic involvement anyway.

Manager Moyes had expressed concern about the schedule Yakubu, Joseph Yobo and Anichebe, as well as South Africa’s Steven Pienaar, had to endure this month at the end of a long domestic campaign.

But encouraging for Moyes is that Nigeria made it four wins out of four in their group. That means they have already made it through to the next phase of qualifying and don’t need anything from their final two group games in September and October – opening up the possibility of some of their top players being rested.

A further plus-point for Everton was last season’s top scorer Yakubu delivering on his vow to rediscover his goalscoring touch ahead of his brief break.

He opened the scoring against Guinea on the stroke of half-time for his first goal in the four qualifiers.

Meanwhile, Orlando Engelaar’s agent is attempting to coax Everton into a late bidding war for the player.

The Dutch midfielder is expected to join German side Schalke 04 form FC Twente for around £6million following Holland’s exit from Euro 2008 on Saturday.

But Eduard Burleson has revealed that the clubs have yet to agree on the player’s valuation – allowing for the possibility of a higher bid to snatch the player from under Schalke’s noses.

"We have spoken with Schalke and terms have been agreed. But the two clubs have not agreed yet," said Burleson. "I know Everton are interested and that Newcastle could soon make a move.

"He chose to speak to Schalke because there was not any interest from England at the time and also because of the coach Fred Rutten, who was so good for him at Twente. But if does not work, it is now clear could be English options."

Everton have identified the 28-year-old as a possible replacement for Lee Carsley in the holding midfield role and will ponder their next move.