“Can he start at Wembley? He can definitely start,” says the Goodison manager.

“It’s something I’d seriously consider.

“I’d have no fears whatsoever starting Jack Rodwell. He could contribute and he is certainly someone I’d consider.”

Of the player’s obvious level-headed approach to the game, Moyes adds: “It’s one of his biggest qualities. He first and foremost wants to be a football player, there is a lot of others that want to have the other things that go along with that first.

“But he wants the football first, and because of that that gives me great hope that he will keep progressing. He is a really level-headed boy and has a good understanding of where he wants to go.

“I don’t see him being fazed by the Cup final occasion, but you don’t know until you get out there. Sometimes 30-year-old players can be fazed.”

The emergence of both Rodwell and Gosling is further proof of Everton’s fine track record at bringing youngster through the ranks, with the likes of James Vaughan, Victor Anichebe and Wayne Rooney treading the same path in recent years.

“We ask the youngsters to be team players, to be very humble with the way they go about things,” says Moyes. “But we want them to show ambition and have a real love for football and in the main they have.

“Dan Gosling is another one who keeps nudging the bar, nudging himself up and I don’t think he is out of place in the Premier League at the moment.

“Maybe at the start of the season, we wouldn’t have said Jack or Dan would have involved as much. But through circumstances opportunities become available, and they’ve thrown themselves in there and both got themselves a chance of playing in an FA Cup final at Wembley.

“It’s one of the silver linings of what happened in the summer. Sometimes from a negative you can get a positive, and you need to pick up on that and use it.”