David Moyes has claimed Everton and Roberto Martinez are holding back Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines by blocking Manchester United’s attempts to sign the duo. The Guardian reports that Moyes, who managed the pair at Everton up until the end of last season, claimed that had he been in charge of Everton when a bid was made for the players he would have allowed the players to do what was best for them.

"[I]f I'd been Everton manager and Sir Alex had come asking for Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini, I'd have found it very difficult to keep them because I always felt the right thing to do was what was right for the players," Moyes said.

Everton described the United bid - £28m for the two players – as “derisory and insulting”. Moyes countered by claiming the nature of the transfer market means no club is “quute sure” of what the expected price-tag on players is.

"The transfer window is open and we can make bids and you can say 'Yes or no', it's as simple as that. You are allowed to bid. That's not our choice [to make it public]. That's up to them. You need to ask them that question.

"There's sort of a mixed market at the moment. No one is quite sure where the price is right. It's a sort of strange market. Suddenly someone could give you big money. We've had offers for players at this club, which we feel are quite small. I can see it where other clubs might be thinking it's not enough value for their players as well."

Moyes was asked if he would have reacted in the same manner as Roberto Maritnez if a similar offer had come in while he as in charge, and responded:

"That's a different question, which I've tried to answer. Everton are a great club, I respect them greatly and I in no way would want to do it in a way that affects them. Of course, taking a player is going to affect them. I'm doing what I have to do in my job.

"I speak to Bill Kenwright [the chairman] regularly, we speak most weeks. He was great for me and hopefully he would think that I'd done a good job for him as well, and Everton. There's no way there's any disrespect whatsoever. This is just a case where we've made an offer, we didn't make it public to anybody, so we'll try and answer the questions as best we can."

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