MOYES ‘INSULT’ RILES EVERTON
Goodison incensed by paltry offer from old boss for top pair
IN SEPTEMBER 2009, David Moyes — then manager of Everton — finally lost patience with Manchester City in their attempts to buy his central defender Joleon Lescott.
‘ The way it has been done is disgusting and it has disrupted our football club,’ said Moyes.
Fast forward four years and Moyes finds himself on the other end of the rope in the Barclays Premier League’s latest tug of war. Now manager of Manchester United, his attempts to buy Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini have angered Everton in a way with which he should be very familiar.
In calling yesterday’s joint bid of £28million for the two players ‘ an insult’, Everton delivered their message in the firmest possible way to the man who left Goodison Park for Old Trafford during the summer.
Back in 2009, the Lescott transfer, which eventually went through, got very ugly and there is every reason to suspect this episode will go exactly the same way.
When trying to buy players from his old club, Moyes might not have the advantage he may seem to. Certainly the United manager is aware that Everton’s finances usually require them to sell one star player every summer. He also knows what the two players earn — Fellaini is the club’s top earner at £75,000 a week — and in all likelihood how much they would like to come and play for him.
Everton and their chairman Bill Kenwright, however, will want to sell their best players to Moyes even less than they do to anybody else. It is one thing allowing your manager to walk away without a fight, quite another to roll over when he comes back for key players.
Certainly, if Moyes and his chief executive Ed Woodward want to get this deal done they are going to have to offer a lot more than £28m. Having already had a £12m bid for Baines rejected this year, this latest offer would appear to value Fellaini at just £4m more — odd for a player who had a buy-out clause of £23.5m, until it expired at the end of last month. United have always placed emphasis on getting value for money. Sir Alex Ferguson lost out on some big-name players because of this and, with 12 days of the trading window remaining, it is tempting to wonder whether it’s time to throw a little extra around just to get some deals done.
Moyes admitted that his own inexperience in operating at this end of the market may have handicapped his club a little this summer. Woodward, too, is swimming in unfamiliar waters and he needs to get something done soon for his own credibility.
It is easy to make glib comparisons but would Ferguson and Woodward’s predecessor David Gill have gone into this Barclays Premier League season, especially given United’s tough run of early fixtures, without getting key signings through the door first? Possibly not.
With deals for Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo both explored thoroughly, an early move for Thiago Alcantara abandoned on the back of Moyes’ own reservations and a third bid for Cesc Fabregas only likely if the Spaniard finds himself out of the team at Barcelona this weekend, it has been a taxing and rather sobering summer for the champions. And it isn’t about to get any easier.
United’s valuation of Fellaini was being questioned yesterday, not just by Everton but throughout football.
Baines is 28 and full backs are rarely bought and sold for huge sums. Fellaini, though, is just 25 and should have his best years ahead of him. He also cost Everton £15m, with £2m in addons, when Moyes bought him from Standard Liege in 2008. It seems peculiar that United should now value him at £1m less. That just doesn’t add up.
Happily, both Everton players have conducted themselves professionally, despite being aware of United’s interest. Both played in Everton’s 2-2 draw at Norwich City on Saturday and manager Roberto Martinez has revealed no issues with their attitude.
If this transfer is to happen, though, it seems likely they will have to ask to leave. Fellaini has been central to Everton’s football in recent seasons and there is nothing to suggest that would change under the progressive Martinez. Baines is reliable and, crucially, a wonderful striker of a dead ball.
Neither player would fit the ‘galactico’ profile that United’s owners, the Glazer family, set out to sign at the star of the summer. Real Madrid’s Luca Modric, still under consideration, would certainly be sexier.
Nevertheless, if United can get this double deal over the line it would represent progress of sorts. Offering Everton and Kenwright a little more money would be a decent place to start.