Moyes - I could have won Prem title had I stayed at Everton

David Moyes claims he could have won the Premier League if he had stayed at Everton

David Moyes believes he could have won the Premier League with Everton if he had been allowed to sign a striker like Romelu Lukaku.

Moyes’ Everton side were firmly entrenched as a top-eight team in the second half of his 11-year reign, but frustratingly fell short of establishing themselves as a Champions League club, prompting their former manager to claim the inability to land a world-class striker was the crucial thing missing.

Having left Goodison Park to become Manchester United manger in 2013, Moyes is confident he would have been far more successful than his successor Roberto Martínez at Everton if he had been given the chance to deploy a centre forward of Lukaku’s ability.

Moyes, now manager at Sunderland, comes up against Everton tonight at the Stadium of Light and he is adamant he would have been a greater success if he had extended his contract on Merseyside.

“We had a great team at Everton but we were missing a centre-forward,” Moyes said. “I might be exaggerating, but I think with that we would have been close to winning the Premier League, we were that good.

“In the last two years, we finished above Liverpool in the league. You look at their spending over the years and that was a big thing, but we just couldn’t break the top four because we didn’t have the finances to buy a centre-forward.”

Moyes, 55, is hoping to rebuild his reputation at Sunderland after failures at Manchester United and Real Sociedad, and says the challenge on Wearside reminds him of the job he began at Everton where he inherited a squad of questionable quality, carrying the scars of constant relegation battles and little money to improve it.

“It was a brilliant education because I had to try to spend well and learn.”

Meanwhile, Everton’s current manager Ronald Koeman has told midfielder Ross Barkley not to blame anyone but himself for being dropped by England.

Barkley was the surprising omission from Sam Allardyce’s squad for the recent World Cup qualifier with Slovakia and former England manager Roy Hodgson failed to bring him off the bench during the Euro 2016 finals.

“Roy could have shown more faith in me,” Barkley said later, but Koeman seemed far from impressed by those comments.

“I don’t like that [when a player blames others],” said Koeman. “First, you have to look at yourself. Every manager will select the best players and the best team. And if you show, then you will be selected.”

Telegraph