Moyes committed to using Brits

David Moyes has underlined his commitment to bringing in British players as Everton maintain their challenge for a Champions League spot.

The Toffees started their last match against West Ham with an entire English defence and five English players in all, in sharp contrast to some Barclays Premier League teams who have only a handful of homegrown players in their squads.

Moyes told www.leaguemanagers.com: "I think that is important. When we took over at Everton it (our buying) was to avoid being in the bottom six; now our buying is to be in the top six so our buying had changed a little bit. I am very keen to keep bringing in British boys."

He added: "The players that we brought in to keep us out of the bottom six have gone on to prove that they can all be part of the top six.

"That's why we put a lot of effort into scouting in the UK to see if we can find the right players."

The 45-year-old has also promoted a lot of players from the Everton youth system - notably Wayne Rooney and current team members Leon Osman and James Vaughan.

He used the example of Manchester United, who brought through David Beckham, the Neville brothers, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs together, as a model of success for promoting from within.

"(That is why) I am very keen to have young players consistently come through and as we well know the Manchester United group that came through 10 years ago were well known and that helped their football club," Moyes continued.

"I keep saying that if you want a game of football in the first team and you are good, we are liable to put you in the team young and early and try and get you through and we have done that."