David Moyes insists it will be difficult for Everton to improve on seventh next season

David Moyes, the Everton manager. (Getty Images)

Related Links

Teams

Players

David Moyes has conceded Everton may have a difficult task on improving on seventh place next season.

After a stuttering start to the campaign, Moyes’s side regained form and are likely to secure seventh spot behind rivals Liverpool, although if they lose their final game on Sunday at home to Chelsea, and Fulham beat Arsenal, Mark Hughes’s side will leapfrog the Merseysiders.

Moyes maintains his side require minimal spending to keep up with Tottenham and Liverpool but insists new arrivals are required to boost the squad ahead of next season.

“That would be massive. Seventh might be as good as it can get for Everton with the resources and the way teams are spending now,” Moyes told reporters.

“I hoped we would do better than that this year but I think it is going to be much tougher next year.

“But I don’t think we are too far away. I don’t think this football club needs hundreds of millions.

“It just needs some fresh cash to try to start again and give us some impetus going into the new season.”

Moyes credits his side for showing progression with the same core players each season, without the influx of spending in the transfer market.

“We have been able to do it without loads of money, we have been able to do it in a different way.

“That will be the route we take and I am hoping we are able to give ourselves a fresh start next season.

“We have been doing it that way for the nine years I have been here.

“Other clubs might have their own route to try to gain success but we have had to be slower and more progressive over a longer period.”

Looking ahead to his side’s fixture against Carlo Ancelotti’s side, Moyes refutes claims that with little to play for, it will mean the two sides will take the encounter lightly.

“It is a Premier League game. Lots of people pay to come,” said Moyes.

“We have got to try to make sure we can finish seventh, that is the best we can do now.

“Chelsea can only stay second but I don’t think any manager goes out not to win a game.”

Leighton Baines secured Everton’s player of the year, players’ player of the year and goal of the season accolades at the club’s end of season presentation, and Moyes has praised the 26-year-old left-back for having such an influential season at Goodison Park.

“Leighton has had a really good season,” said Moyes.

“Wherever I go people always ask me about Leighton Baines.

“He has played well, been good going forward, created goals and scored some goals.

“They can see how well he is doing and what a good season he has had.”