Recently by Nick Smith

STEVE ROUND is ready to accept the role as David Moyes's number two - although Chelsea and FC Twente are set to make late attempts to change his mind.

Everton manager Moyes interrupted his holiday to call Newcastle first team coach Round and ask him to fill the role vacated by Alan Irvine last November.

He has been given permission to speak to the club as Moyes looks to install his new assistant ahead of the return to pre-season training next Thursday, after Round's current contract at St James's Park expires on July 1.

EVERTON are calling for help in trying to close the "dangerous" gap between Champions League and UEFA Cup prize money.

Figures released this week showed the Premier League's top four earned £102million between them in European competition last season - while Everton's UEFA Cup run to the last 16 yielded just £400,000.

Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk were the lowest Champions League earners and finished bottom of their group - but still took 14 times more money than Everton

EVERTON are facing a potential defensive injury crisis ahead of the new season.

Joseph Yobo has revealed he played with an ankle injury during Nigeria's recent World Cup qualifiers, that came off the back of a gruelling domestic campaign.

And Tony Hibbert has confirmed that he could be facing the possibility of surgery on the knee ligament injury he sustained towards the end of last season.

JOLEON LESCOTT reckons replacing Lee Carsley will be Everton's toughest task in the transfer window.

The 34-year-old became a permanent fixture in midfield as the club secured two successive European qualifications - but he rejected the offer of a further one-year deal to leave for Birmingham City at the end of last season.

Everton manager David Moyes has made the holding midfield area one of his top priorities as he considers his targets for the summer transfer window.

ANDREW JOHNSON is set to be reassured of his Everton future in the face of another round of speculation suggesting he is up for sale.

The 27-year-old became Everton's record signing two years ago when he joined for £8.6million from Crystal Palace but he has been linked with a move away from Goodison Park in every transfer window since.

Current reports are based on manager David Moyes's legitimate concerns that the government could refuse plans for Everton's new stadium and call a public inquiry, thus curtailing the amount of transfer business he can conduct in the summer window

DAVID MOYES received a welcome boost ahead of Everton's pre-season preparations when his African contingent emerged largely unscathed from their final round of World Cup qualifiers.

Victor Anichebe had to go off with a chest injury after 40 minutes of his full competitive debut for Nigeria in their 2-0 win over Equatorial Guinea, but he is out of Everton's first two games of the season because of Olympic involvement anyway.

Manager Moyes had expressed concern about the schedule Yakubu, Joseph Yobo and Anichebe, as well as South Africa's Steven Pienaar, had to endure this month at the end of a long domestic campaign

TIM CAHILL has revealed his burning desire to help Everton build on last season's achievements.

The Australian midfielder is back at Finch Farm stepping up the recovery from the foot problems that have plagued him for the past 15 months and that forced him to miss the climax of Everton's season.

Now Cahill is determined to play his part in ensuring that a European run is not just a one-off and help bring a long-awaited trophy to Goodison Park.

PHIL NEVILLE wants Everton to lead the crusade against the Premier League becoming "boring".

The club captain is aiming to challenge the top four stranglehold once again next season after Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool shared the positions between them for a third successive campaign.

Everton finished 11 points off the pack but were still closer than anyone else - and remain the only club in the past five seasons outside that now-established elite to finish in the top four.

IF Kevin Keegan can't whip up the enthusiasm, it must be in trouble. The Newcastle manager's assertion that, year after year, he is resigned to a boring Premier League, with its pre- determined top four, doesn't really make him any different from anyone else.

But coming from Kevin Keegan?

From the man who managed to get himself up for a kickabout with the Honey Monster in a Sugar Puffs advert?

The omens for those outside the established Champions League elite aren't good.

IT'S fair to say Everton were overdue a favour - they've had precious few off anyone during this campaign.

They still await their first league penalty of the season with one game to go. David Moyes has rarely, if ever, had everybody available to him in a squad already low on numbers. And even a highest points total in the Premier League era with two games to spare hasn't been enough to avoid a scrap just for UEFA Cup qualification in these closing weeks of the campaign.

And they haven't managed to do themselves the courtesy of a favour or two in recent times. In the eight games since they went out of the UEFA Cup, Derby are the only side they have beaten, with fatal lapses of concentration costing them the points they have needed to put safe distance between themselves and the chasing pack.