Victor Anichebe, whose last appearance was also at Newcastle back in February, has been pencilled in for a reserves run-out on Monday, while Yakubu could be on the bench for tomorrow’s visit to Fulham.

“Victor looks as though he is much closer,” said Moyes. “He played in a practice match here and I hope he can play for the reserves on Monday.

“Yakubu is back in among the squad but I’m not sure he’s ready to start a game. But he is getting closer.”

Of Phil Jagielka, slated for a November return, Moyes added: “He is doing well. He is on course at the moment, but with injuries like his you can never really tell.

“Joe Cole had a similar cruciate problem at Chelsea but he suffered a setback, so we will have to wait and see.”

Moyes was speaking yesterday at the official Finch Farm unveiling of his new summer signings, John Heitinga, Sylvain Distin and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.

Everton chief executive Robert Elstone claimed earlier in the week that the club had spent £8million on new players during the transfer window in addition to the money received in selling Joleon Lescott to Manchester City.

Moyes, though, believes he has merely balanced the books with his summer business.

“You can work it out yourself,” said the Goodison manager. “Bilyaletdinov, Heitinga and Distin came to roughly £19m give or take a bit, and money we got back for Lescott after we paid Wolves is about £19m.

“We’ve only spent what we have brought in, we haven’t spent any other cash on top of that. That’s what it looks like to me. Times are hard, so I will work to what I can do.”