Andre Villas-Boas is considering a £20million January bid for the England midfielder, and Moyes knows he could do little to prevent a sale in the event of an offer.
However, Moyes wants to retain the 20 year-old, whom he has nurtured into an international player. The manager admits it would send out a worrying signal about the club if the player left. “He came on the scene very early but I’ll always think players will be better served being at Everton,” Moyes said.
“His development here has been good. I’ve not heard anything from Chelsea. I’ve not had a bid. There was a bit of speculation about Jack in the summer as well and nothing came of it. I’m looking at this one as the same sort of speculation and hopefully nothing will come of this.
“There comes a point where we don’t want to become a club preparing players for other clubs. I personally want to have a team that is competing. Obviously the players want to be successful, winning things and that’s something I need to consider as well.
“My job has always been not to sell my best players. When I came here, I said we might not have much to spend but we didn’t want to get rid of our better players. We’ve never had to do that yet. Mikel wanted to go in the summer, Wayne wanted to go and Joleon wanted to leave.
“We didn’t want them to go. Not everyone who says they want to leave we’re going to let go. The position Everton have moved to, the stature of the club has grown, and we have players good enough for a lot of the top teams. In the past there weren’t players at Everton good enough for the top teams.”
Everton supporters will be concerned that the club’s accounts will force them to accept an offer for one of their prized assets. Moyes denies that.
“I don’t think we’ll be selling because we need the money for the bank,” he said. “I still make the football decisions. There’s a bit more business involved in it now. There’s other financial things we need to keep our eye on. Not all the decisions can be solely down to what happens on the field.”
Moyes is hoping to add rather than weaken his squad, confirming a £100,000 fee has been agreed for Cliftonville striker Rory Donnelly.
Liverpool and Swansea, who Everton face at Goodison on Wednesday night, are also in talks with the teenage striker. “We’ve agreed a fee with the club and I’ve had him over and met him last week,” said Moyes.
