DAVID MOYES has revealed Everton have opened talks over persuading Marouane Fellaini to extend his Goodison commitment.

Negotiations have started with the Belgian international, who is approaching the final two years of the contract signed when arriving from Standard Liege for a club record £15million in September 2008.

Fellaini’s future has been the source of constant speculation in recent months, with both Chelsea and Real Madrid linked with launching a summer bid for the 23-year-old.

And the player’s father, Abellatif, has added fuel to the fire with a series of comments criticising Everton and suggesting his son should be playing at a bigger club.

Should discussions flounder, Moyes may opt to cash in on Fellaini to help finance his squad rebuilding programme.

But the Goodison manager is determined to ensure the midfielder, who is sidelined for the remainder of the campaign with an ankle injury, has not played his last game for the club.

“I think talks have started now, even though I’ve not spoken to Marouane personally about it,” said Moyes.

“He’s really important to us, part of the furniture here now, and of course we want him to stay.

“We did it with the likes of Jags and Bainesy, who are on long-term contracts.

“We want to keep building on that and obviously Marouane comes into that category.

“We did the same last year when teams wanted Jags and Mikel, but we made sure we kept them.

“That’s what happens when you have good players – teams will always come looking for them, and there’s no doubt Marouane is a good player.