Who have we sold, bar Rooney, for any decent amount? If your post was the case, then we surely would have cashed in on the likes of Cahill, Arteta, Pienaar etc — all bought for buttons and who would get into most teams now!

Nick Barmby (who was a current international)
Gary Lineker.
Andrei Kanchelskis.
Duncan Ferguson.
Gary Speed.
Gary Stevens.
Gary Steven.
Francis Jeffers.
Olivier Dacourt.
Oh,and Alan Ball.
OK, you can argue that some wanted to go, like Barmby, or didn’t eventually live up to their expectations, like Jeffers, but as a club and as supporters, we didn’t want them to leave.

The post says ’since Moyes has firmly established us as a top 6 side’ so wouldn't apply to any of those players you mention, Ray. It possibly also wouldn't even include Rooney as we finished 7th when he was a bit part, and 17th when he was a regular.

I just don't know what he’s getting at suggesting we are looking at the likes of Naughton, Delph etc. with a view to already selling them on!?! There is no evidence whatsoever, and if Moyes does ever start buying players for £5 mil and selling them for £20 mil+ then brilliant! We will be debt free in no time!!

Dan, I responded to your comments. Historically we have been something of a selling club, even Joe Royle said as much. The days when we just paid big transfers has long gone. John Moores didn’t give Everton loads of money but stood as guarantor to allow us to borrow money for transfers but even so, Ball was allowed to go in what Catterick called "Good business". The fact that we can’t compete in the transfer market means that we’ll carry on selling our best players.

The marketplace today is not the same as it ever was. Yes, the biggest clubs will always be able to offer higher salaries but at the moment there are one or two clubs that will offer players ridiculous sums. Everton have not often sold players as a "selling club" (Dunc’s sale aside), there have often been other factors — Kanchelskis and Speed were nothing to do with us being a selling club, neither was Barmby and in the 80s it was the European football we couldn’t offer that moved players on.

If Lescott goes, I believe it will only be because (a) he is attracted by the megabucks on offer, and (b) only when Moyes believes that his sale would have a net gain on the team/squad as a whole. If he can sell Lescott for £20m plus and bring in 3 or 4 £5m players who will improve the squad then fair enough. I don’t want Lescott to go much as I didn’t want Rooney to leave, but the latter is a blessing in disguise.

As for Lescott, well, you could argue that when a club with more money than sense comes in for one of your players it’s also a blessing in disguise as you can make a huge profit and improve the squad. Let’s face it, £5m off the debt and 3 quality promising youngsters would be good.

Ray, I tend to disagree because, as the poster points out in his initial post, you need to sell your best players only if you want to buy big players.

It seems to make a lot more sense to buy talented players and make them big, in which case you don’t need to buy big. If you don’t need to buy big, you don’t need to sell either.

I think this is good because selling a good player who is used to the club and buying one who isn’t will rarely ever benefit the club. I am so glad DM realizes this and has the backing to implement it. He deserves immense credit for putting his foot down and saying NO.

Every team sells players, Ray. I don't think anyone would describe Man U or AC Milan as ’selling clubs’ yet they have just let 2 of the top 3 players in the world move on!

Moyes is right to be trying to buy ’bright young things’ but point 1 and 2 of the original post are both positive, we either keep the player so we don't have to buy £20 mil+ players (suggesting that they are as good as one) or we sell said player for £20 mil+ which is great business for the club.

The post should have added another point being that Moyes buys a youngster and they turn out to be crap and we cart them back to the Championship for half what we paid (like Spurs do)!

Taken time off from Family Guy!?

Not sure about the £20 million valuation Pete, but Moyes’s targets usually double in value over time. Moyes’s ability to spot potential is as brilliant as Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson so by now I agree, he deserves a bit more trust.

Should we sell Lescott? Well had Liverpool sold a £5.5 million defender to City for £18 million, would that make them a selling club or a smart one?

On the other hand, Lescott will be at the World Cup next year. Two good games on the world stage and the floodgates will open. City don’t want to be drawn into a bidding war so they pay what we ask for now! Either way we win!

I think people have misunderstood my point. I was just wondering which option they think our club would choose, 1 or 2?

For example if we signed Delph for £5 million and in 3 years time he’s established and successful in the first team (maybe England) and, say, Shitty come in and offer £20 million, will the club then see a £15 million profit and find the next bright young thing or reject a bid for the good of on-pitch success and continuity? This was my point.

Look at Arsenal. Since they have moved to a new stadium it seems to me they are looking to profit from their talent. By signing young cheap players with potential, developing them into stars and then selling them for a profit. Sell Adebayor for £25 million and sign Chamakh for £7 million seems to be their plan. Someone made a comment the other day, 'Arsene Moyes'... and it got me wondering.

I hope we’re looking to keep these young players and bring back success to the club, only selling players who want to leave.

Peter, I think the answer to your question is that we will always sell if the price is right, and so would any other club. Utd and Milan have just proved that as another poster has said.

Yeah, you’re right Paul. I just hope it’s somebody who knows what they’re doing who decides what the right price actually is.

Look at Lescott, £15 million was a waste of a phone call...

Prabhat, You say "you need to sell your best players only if you want to buy big players" and that illustrates my point. We will sell players like, for instance, Lescott, who we have bought and brought on, not to buy big players, but to reduce debt and then buy Championship players to bring on, then sell etc. We are not a big player in the transfer market anymore. We sell players. We always have.

Dan, I don’t think Man U are a selling club. They don’t normally sell their best players. OK, the Show Pony has just been sold for silly money but that I think is the exception that proves the rule. They will sell players like Butt, or Phil Neville because they are no longer needed or they have a better replacement.

Utd are a club that is ruthless in its treatment of former stars. From Gregg on to Best, even Charlton, until he managed to get a seat on the board as an ambassador, was left out in the cold. Once a player is no longer any use, they are discarded with impunity. Not many players leave Old Trafford to better themselves, unless SAF is pissed off with them: eg, Stamm or Van Nistelroy.

You further say "we either keep the player so we don't have to buy £20 mil+ players". Exactly! Why do the hard part and "make" a player a £20m player which makes us a better team so that we don’t have to buy a big name? Keep him and improve our standing both in the League and as a profile.

Peter, You mention Arsenal and say "By signing young cheap players with potential, developing them into stars and then selling them for a profit", something Arsene has done very well, but this has coincided with them winning nothing.

Arsenal fans are naffed off with Wenger because they see him developing young players and then selling them to pay for a new Stadium. Which would they (or you) rather have? A great team and an old stadium or a wonderful arena and a team which will you will sell to your rivals to make them great?

Football is similar to a food chain. There is always likely to be someone bigger, better and with more money than you.

Even Man Utd are a selling club. They sold the world footballer of the year for an offer they couldn’t refuse.

There is always a club bigger ... unless you are Real Madrid as they are traditionally recognised as the best team to play for in the world.

Lescott won't get a game at next year's World Cup barring injury to Terry or Rio and if he does he’ll have to do a lot better than his previous internationals if he is chosen above Upson. Lescott is a fantastic defender in the Premier League for us and I don't want him to leave; however, if he chooses to leave and we got over £20 million, that would be a good deal for us.

I pay to watch the team mate, not admire the wooden seats.

Ray, I feel that selling players to manage the debt is not a very good idea because debt per se isn’t fatal nowadays, so long as the team performs well on the pitch.

I don’t think most people here appreciate the fact that if you sell a really good player like Lescott for £20M, it's functionally impossible to find an adequate replacement. Our debt isn’t a problem so long as we fire on the pitch. But even if we lop off say £5M from the debt and then don’t have an excellent season, the vultures will start circling.

As far as squad development is concerned, I think selling Lescott (for instance) for £15M and calling it good business because its a £10M profit is a bit of a "sunk cost fallacy". It doesn’t really matter what we paid for him but rather what he is worth to us now, which, all things considered, is around £25M to me now, given we can’t replace him and that he is an excellent and very popular player... plus all the intangible messages people get — not to mention that Moyes’s word now rides on keeping him.

Prabhat, I think you have misunderstood me, I DON’T advocate selling players that we have "made" or produced from the Academy. I certainly don’t want Lescott sold at all, and if we do have to sell him then make it a massive sum, say £25m plus. My point is that we have always sold players due to lack of finance, investment or whatever and are no longer the big players in the transfer market that we once were. I don’t want us making average or Championship players great players only for them to be sold to our rivals who either can’t or can’t be arsed producing their own.