David Moyes has insisted that Everton are a big enough club to hold on to Jack Rodwell for a long time to come.
The 18-year-old played a starring role in the victory over Manchester United on Saturday and is tipped to go on to big things.
Rodwell has become a first team regular at Goodison Park and some have suggested that the club will sell their star youngster, much like they did Wayne Rooney back in 2004.
Moyes believes the situation is a lot different now though as Everton are a club that are “ready” to hold on to one of the best young players around. The Scotsman believes his team are “good enough to keep bigger suitors away”.
The Everton boss added that although there has been “a lot of attention” on Rodwell in recent months, the fact that they team are “competing within Europe” and “trying to beat the top teams” makes everything a lot more comfortable.
The former Preston boss even suggested that if Rooney was an emerging Everton player now they would be able to keep him for a lot longer than they did a few years ago.
Moyes thinks current Toffees youngster Rodwell is going to be a “good player in time” and hopes he will become the star everyone knows he can be in an Everton shirt.
There has been talk of Rodwell being a £30m target for Manchester United and if Sir Alex Ferguson is interested, then the events of this weekend will have only made him keener to snap up the player.
The Stockport born teenager was lively when he came off the bench against the Premier League champions and capped his cameo performance off with a fine goal.
It was the third goal for Everton and it secured an excellent three points for the side as they continue to climb the table.
The Toffees are also going well in Europe and a battling 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon will have pleased anyone who has placed an Everton Europa League bet.
Moyes will be keen to win a trophy in order to boost his side’s credentials even more.
For his part Rodwell might be dreaming of boosting England’s World Cup chances by forcing his way into the squad for South Africa 2010.
However, with so much competition for places it seems likely the youngster will have to make do with under-21 football for a while longer.
