<p><a href="http://view.picapp.com/default.aspx?term=david moyes&amp;iid=8331162" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://cdn.picapp.com/ftp/Images/4/2/b/3/Football__Manchester_5fcb.jpg?adImageId=12028396&amp;imageId=8331162" width="500" height="284" border="0" alt="Football - Manchester City v Everton Barclays Premier League"></figure></div></a></p>
<p>David Moyes joined Everton following the sacking of Walter Smith in March 2002. He was regarded as one of the most promising young managers in the country when he arrived at Goodison Park and has justified that assessment ever since.</p>
<p>His transfer activity has been extremely impressive during his Everton tenure, uncovering gem after gem for extremely reasonable prices. So here are the top five signings by David Moyes during his time at Everton.</p>
<p><strong>Mikel Arteta – 159 apps, January 2005 – present</strong></p>
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<p>Signed by Moyes in the January transfer window of 2005 initially on loan but with view to a permanent transfer, he excelled at Goodison Park and the loan was made permanent in July 2005 for £2 million, a paltry fee considering his impact. Awarded Everton Player of the Season in 2006 and 2007, plus Everton Player’s Player of the Season 2006, he has become a key component in Moyes’ Everton side.</p>
<p>Initially thought of as a defensive midfielder in the mould of Pep Guardiola, he has established himself on the right-wing, his close control and dribbling are among the best in the EPL and last season he was the most fouled player in the league.</p>
<p><strong>Tim Cahill – 196 apps, July 2004 – present</strong></p>
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<p>A summer 2004 acquisition by Moyes and one of the best. Brought in from Championship club Millwall for a fee of £1.5 million and it has been one of the best pieces of business made by the Everton manager.</p>
<p>In his first season with the club he was top scorer with 12 goals and also won the clubs Player of the Season award. He is also the first Everton player since Dixie Dean in 1931 to score in three separate Merseyside derbies at Anfield.</p>
<p>Best known for his late runs into the box and ability to score with his head, he is a tremendous threat for Everton and carries the fight from the middle of the park.</p>
<p><strong>Joleon Lescott – 143 apps, June 2006 – August 2009</strong></p>
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<p>Signed by Moyes in the summer of 2006 after a long career at Wolverhampton Wanderers for a sum of £5 million.</p>
<p>He was voted player’s Player of the Season in 2007 and 2008 due to his consistent performances and earned himself the nickname ‘Mr. Consistency’. A pillar of strength at the back for Everton he managed to work his way into the England squad with his impressive form.</p>
<p>His legacy at Everton will be soured by his departure to Manchester City, but even so, the fee of £22 million was a magnificent profit on the initial payout and a great piece of business by David Moyes.</p>
<p><strong>Steven Pienaar – 102 apps, July 2007 – present</strong></p>
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<p>Brought in on loan from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2007, he was an instant hit at Goodison Park. His creativity was vital in a hardworking Toffees midfield, and Moyes eventually made the move permanent a year later for a fee of £2 million.</p>
<p>He learned his football at Ajax and was part of a successful side which contained the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a move to Dortmund followed but he did not settle and thanks to Moyes his career has been reinvigorated.</p>
<p>His dynamic performances for Everton and South Africa have caught the eye of many top European clubs, so only time will tell if Moyes can hold onto one of his starlets.</p>
<p><strong>Tim Howard – 178 apps, May 2006 – present</strong></p>
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<p>Arriving from rivals Manchester United in the summer of 2006, he had failed to make the grade at Old Trafford and was initially given a one year loan deal by Moyes. His performances were so impressive that the transfer was made permanent in February 2007 for a fee of around £3 million, another bargain by the Everton manager.</p>
<p>Ever reliable and regularly producing excellent saves, the keeper was one short of equalling Neville Southall’s record of 15 clean sheets in the league during the 2007/08 season.</p>
<p>On April 19, 2009, in the FA Cup semi final, he saved two penalties against his former club Manchester United in a penalty shoot-out to send Everton to the final against Chelsea.</p>
<p>Impressive stuff indeed, but do you agree? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.</p>

David Moyes&#039; Best Signings for Everton

David Moyes&#039; Best Signings for Everton - World Soccer Talk

David Moyes' Best Signings for Everton

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<p>You’ve got to feel for David Moyes and the never ending injury situation at Goodison Park. Since they finished fourth in 2005, it seems every season starts in December due to the injury affliction that seemingly curses the Toffees. <a href="http://www.soccerphile.com/soccerphile/premier-league/tottenham-2.html" target="_blank">Thankfully, we’re past the days when teams blamed gypsy curses for bad luck or injuries.</a> I never understood those strange tales, especially as they always seemed to affect sides that had previously had success.</p>
<p>Do theses curses have timers included in the spell when it’s cast? Thankfully, Goodison seems to be the type of place were such nonsense isn’t given a second thought. There is no doubt that Everton have consistently punched above their weight for the best part of David Moyes’ reign. They’ve finished lower than 6th once in the last 5 years and now once again, Everton are charging up the table.</p>
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<p>Wednesday’s nights victory at Manchester City acted as a reminder for people that for all the excitement on who would finish fourth, Everton can still cause perceived better sides problems. In the shakedown of the season, Everton seem to be the one side everyone forgets. Since the turn of the year, they’ve only lost 2 league games against Spurs and Liverpool and beat Manchester United and Chelsea. An injury time equaliser from Thomas Rosicky saved Arsenal’s blushes at the Emirates Stadium in January.</p>
<p>The upturn in their fortunes is consistently overlooked, but they’ve clawed back a 13 point gap on 7th and are now breathing down Aston Villa’s neck. It would be easy for Moyes to blame lack of investment compared with all the teams above them, but he simply does the best he can with what he has. It is a return most chairman would die for, yet in giving us the most consistent Everton side since the mid 80’s, Everton still don’t get the credit they deserve.</p>
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<p>Perhaps people miss the point with Everton, but on song, they are a damn fine team, with the delightful Arteta in the side pulling the strings. Any side shorn of the quality that he, along with Saha and Jagielka, brings to the Toffees side, would find the going tough, but they simply seem to get along with it. This season, the emergence of Leighton Baines as a top quality left back has allowed Moyes to use the criminally underrated Phil Neville to slip in at right back in place of the erratic Tony Hibbert.</p>
<p>Added to that, John Heitinga’s flexibility in his ability to play seemingly anywhere in defence or midfield shows his transfer fee to be an absolute steal. For £6.2 million, the Dutch international has shown that Ajax still produce such adaptable and talented players that no other club can compare to. In comparison to the man he replaced, Joleon Lescott, Heitinga is simply a far better player on every level. He even seems to have survived a spell at the modern footballers graveyard, Athletico Madrid.</p>
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<p>With the breakthrough of Jack Rodwell and Dan Gosling to consistently make the side and grow as players can only be a good thing for Everton. For a club with the stature and history that they have, why they struggle to gain any real investment is a mystery to me. I grew up watching an Everton side that <a href="http://www.evertonfc.com/history/european-cup-winners-cup-1985.html" target="_blank">were real challengers for titles both at home and abroad</a> before being curtailed by English footballs ban from European for that dark 5 year period between 1985 to 1990. I have no doubt that Everton could have won the European Cup in 1986 rather than perhaps the worst European Champions in modern history, Steaua Bucharest and their blanketing tactics.</p>
<p>Moyes is well aware of the history and tradition that Everton have. The halcyon era’s of Howard Kendall and Harry Catterick may be distant history to some as many remember the side that struggled to hang on to their top flight status throughout much of the 1990’s. Everton have been a top flight side since 1954, the second longest in English football behind Arsenal. That’s 56 seasons in the top division, if that’s not history, I don’t know what is.</p>
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<p>A late charge for 4th would be miraculous, but I wouldn’t bet on them finishing 8th. As Villa stutter, City keep missing chances and Liverpool’s dreadfully negative football keeps failing, they could be well pressed to finish above at least one of those sides. It would be a massive fillip for Moyes, the wonderfully supportive chairman Bill Kenwright and the fans for them to push upwards.</p>
<p>Then this summer hope that he can keep a full strength side for the beginning of the season and add a bit more strength upfront. The perhaps Everton’s fans may begin to think of more than the Europa League and cup semi-finals for once and bring home a bit of silverware once again.</p>

Everton Continue To Be Overlooked

Everton Continue To Be Overlooked - World Soccer Talk

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David Moyes' Best Signings for Everton

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Everton Continue To Be Overlooked