Kenwright open to 'right' offer as Moyes bemoans lack of new blood

Everton conceded yesterday that planning consent for their £400m 50,000-seater stadium would make them a more attractive purchase for a new investor, as chairman Bill Kenwright ruminated once again on his conviction that Premier League proprietors need to be billionaires, and not mere millionaires like himself.

Kenwright has made no secret of his inclination to sell up if the right offer for the club comes in. The close season, with the relentless new wage demands to consider, has always had a tendency to make him gloomy, though he can at least take comfort this summer from the fact that the talented group who made Everton the best performing modestly financed club in the Premier League last season have been kept together for the new campaign. Perhaps with an eye on the events which have unfolded at Anfield, Kenwright has indicated that he will not sell the club to individuals who do not understand the difference between football clubs and "normal" businesses. But he admits that he has taken the club as far as he can in terms of "working miracles" with such limited investment.

Everton have rejected reports that they have buyers lined up in anticipation of the Government Office for the North West giving the green light to the club's new stadium at Kirkby. But they do accept that such approval could attract new investment. "Logic dictates that if we do find a new home Everton would, as a club which has finished inside the top six on three occasions in recent years, be a more attractive proposition to investors," a spokesman said. "Bill [Kenwright] has never attempted to hide the fact that he, personally, does not have the funds to move his club forward to where he and the supporters want it to be and to where they believe it should be – at the forefront of the English game. Self-evidently any club which can boast a stadium which is modern, fit for purpose and capable of expansion does represent a more attractive proposition to potential investors."

With other clubs reinforcing, Everton have again felt the impact of being a side of modest means and with their pursuit of Sporting Lisbon midfielder Joao Moutinho apparently no nearer resolution – the Portuguese are demanding the kind of sum Liverpool may end up paying out twice over, for Robbie Keane and Gareth Barry – Moyes publicly yearned for new talent after his side concluded their US tour with a much-needed 2-1 win over Colorado Rapids.

"It's been a good tour but the one disappointment is that I don't have some more people here with me," he said. "I was hoping to have added to the squad by now to give the players a lift. It's not just a new face we need – it's new faces. My big concern is that anybody we bring in now probably won't be ready to start the Premier League season. I'm not going to say I am totally confident because you never know what happens but I am hoping we will get a few in."

Goals from Mikel Arteta and Leon Osman handed Everton their second win of pre-season and went some way to banishing memories of a poor effort against Chicago last Wednesday.