David Moyes has warned Manchester United to abandon any plans to tempt Jack Rodwell away from Everton after the youngster came to prominence in last weekend's clash between the sides.
The 18-year-old sealed an historic 3-1 victory for the Blues over the reigning Premier League champions at Goodison Park with a late goal after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Sir Alex Ferguson is believed to be a keen admirer of the talented midfielder and had hoped that the opportunity to link up with Wayne Rooney, who left Everton in 2004 at the same age as Rodwell, would prove too tempting for the Southport-born player.
However Moyes is confident that history will not repeat itself as Everton's squad is stronger than it was when Rooney left for Old Trafford and feels that the England international would have remained at Goodison had the current crop of players been at the club six years ago.
He said: "There's been quite a lot of attention towards Rodwell for a while. But strangely enough, it was Wayne [leaving] that worried me a lot more. It doesn't worry me quite so much with Jack because we've been through it before [with Rooney].
"I don't think we were quite ready for Wayne when he came on the scene but we're certainly ready for Jack and our team is good enough to keep bigger suitors away.
"The boy is going to be a good player in time but it's all potential and we have to bring it along at the right pace.
"If Wayne was at Everton now I think it would be completely different," said Moyes.
"At the time Wayne came on the scene we were fifth or sixth off the bottom so it was a completely different Everton then to what it is now."
Post a comment