DESPITE the fact that Everton excelled at the City of Manchester Stadium while championing their revolutionary forward line that contained no actual forwards, David Moyes continues to be linked with strikers galore.

The most persistent of all these rumours concerning new centre-forwards is the one that has the Everton making some sort of bid to bring Michael Owen back to Merseyside, despite the fact that his present employers, Newcastle United, are keen to keep hold of him.

Or at least Joe Kinnear is anyway, and understandably so, as Owen’s goals might just secure the potty-mouthed caretaker-manager a permanent position up at St James’ Park.

Kinnear’s situation is a lot different to David Moyes’s though – the Everton manager has one of the most secure jobs in the game at the moment – so it’s difficult to see why he would want the ex-Liverpool striker.

Granted, Owen’s goals-to-games ratio is still mightily impressive, and he showed at the weekend that he is still an excellent finisher, but his fitness combined with the sort of wages he commands make every one of those goals extremely expensive.

We’ve already taken a gamble on one talented but unreliable striker in the shape of Louis Saha, and hey presto he’s been missing when we need him most.

Owen just represents more of the same.

If we were relegation strugglers, desperate for someone to play occasionally and nick enough goals to keep us up, then perhaps he would prove value for money.

We’re meant to be building a team for the future though. One that can consistently challenge for Europe, and for that we need up and coming players who will fit in with our hard-working style.

So although Owen would cause a degree of excitement if Everton did summon up the readies to sign him, would it really send out the right sort of message about the way the team is headed?

And the same also applies to the rather startling stories linking us to the 34-year-old Gary Neville – apart from perhaps the ‘degree of excitement’ bit.

Even if the manager thinks that Owen, Neville, or any other player for that matter, would add value to the team, there is always the thorny issue of cash, and the fact that Moyes keeps telling anyone who will actually listen that he has none to spend.