Moyes will keep buying British

Toffees break the mould

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 26th March 2008

David Moyes Everton v Manchester City

Moyes: Good scouting network

David Moyes has outlined his intention to carry on bringing homegrown talent to Goodison Park.

Everton began their last game, against West Ham, with an entire English defence and five English players in total.

This willingness to shun foreign imports is in sharp contrast to a number of their top-flight rivals who have just a handful of British stars within their squads.

The concept is proving to be successful as well, and with the club currently riding high in the Premier League their manager insists that he will not be changing his transfer policy any time soon.

Scouting

Moyes told the League Managers' Association website: "When we took over at Everton it was to avoid being in the bottom six; now our buying is to be in the top six so our buying had changed a little bit.

"The players that we brought in to keep us out of the bottom six have gone on to prove that they can all be part of the top six.

"So we mustn't not look at that market and I am very keen to keep bringing in British boys.

"That's why we put a lot of effort into scouting in the UK to see if we can find the right players."

Youngsters

The Scottish coach has also helped to nurture academy graduates such as Wayne Rooney, Leon Osman and James Vaughan into top-flight stars, and admits that he has tried to model the club's youth structure on the one which has proved so profitable down the road at Manchester United.

"(That is why) I am very keen to have young players consistently come through and as we well know the Manchester United group that came through 10 years ago were well known and that helped their football club," Moyes continued.

"I keep saying that if you want a game of football in the first team and you are good, we are liable to put you in the team young and early and try and get you through and we have done that."

Opportunities

Moyes has also proved himself adept at spotting talent in the lower leagues, helping to transform the likes of Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott into established Premier League players.

"When I was managing at Preston our shopping tended to be in the Premier League reserve teams," he said.

"The knowledge that I had from being at Preston helped me in that and there are a lot of good players out there and we all need opportunities."