Moyes preparing for Fellaini exit

Everton manager David Moyes has warned clubs eyeing a January bid for his star man Marouane Fellaini that they will need to dig deep to prize the in-form Belgian midfielder away from Goodison Park, but he has not ruled out cashing in on his latest talisman.

GettyImagesDavid Moyes concedes that Marouane Fellaini may want to leave Everton, but it will only be at the right price

• Moyes wants European football
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Fellaini turned in another sparkling display as Everton maintained their push for a top four finish with a 2-1 win against Sunderland on Saturday and Moyes expects some of the biggest clubs in the game to come calling for his signature sooner rather than later.

Chelsea and Arsenal have been heavily linked with moves for Fellaini in recent days, but instead of rejecting the notion of selling the 24-year-old, Moyes has done his bit to bolster the price tag by claiming a king's ransom would needed to be placed on the table before his club would consider doing business.

"Everyone knows where Felli is, they know where to come and watch him and they also that it will be a big price if they are interested," Moyes said. "I'm not in the mood to keep the fight going all the time because I've lost a few players now, but the ones we've lost, we have got good money for.

"We sold Lescott, we sold Arteta and we all felt really down when we lost those players, but we've had to pick ourselves up and go and find other ones. The club will always be bigger than any player, any manager, and the players we've brought in are showing that."

Moyes' apparent willingness to contemplate the possible transfer of Fellaini may surprise some Everton fans, but he was quick to justify his stance.

"I was dead against losing any player at one stage and still am," he said. "Don't think I'm saying people can come and just take my players because that's not what I'm saying, but I've a bit more experience, and a bit more perspective. I realise that if I have top players and can't give them trophies, cup finals, European football, I might have to accept that's what they're thinking.

"I hope Felli knows what I think of him and more than anything, I know he'd love to take Everton into the Champions League, which is what we are trying and achieve this season."

Fellaini's future at Everton has been under a cloud since he was quoted last September suggesting he had achieved all he could at the Merseyside club and may look for a move away in the near future.

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