DAVID MOYES has laughed off the suggestion he is preparing an £8m bid for West Ham's Joe Cole on the eve of the Hammers' visit to Goodison Park.
Reports this morning linked Everton with a summer swoop for the 21-year-old England star (left) if Glenn Roeder's side are relegated to Division One.
But the Blues boss insisted today there is no chance of the midfielder, who will be lining up against Everton tomorrow, becoming a Goodison regular next season.
"I knew nothing about it until this morning," Moyes told the ECHO.
"And I don't know who thought I would have £8m to spend. Everybody is aware of our financial situation. There is nothing in it at all."
The Everton boss is expected to be in the market for a creative midfielder when the transfer window re-opens at the end of the season.
Former Everton man Gavin McCann has already been pencilled in as a target, while Jason Koumas could also be within the manager's limited transfer budget.
But while Moyes is dismissive of a summer swoop for Cole, he is fully aware of the rich vein of form the youngster and his West Ham teammates have been in recently.
"West Ham have found some form at the right time of the year," said the Blues boss.
"West Ham are one of four sides at present struggling to stay up. When I arrived at Everton we were fighting to avoid being sucked into that kind of struggle, which we managed to do.
"People will be saying that these are the sort of games we should be winning, but at the moment matches against the bottom four are the tough-est you can have because of the position they are in.
"I will not be treating this game any differently to the matches against Arsenal and Newcastle in the coming weeks.
"We know it is going to be difficult but we have got a lot of confidence and our form has not been too bad in recent weeks."
Tomorrow's game against Glenn Roeder's side is Everton's first Premiership outing for a fortnight.
But the break has not allowed Tony Hibbert or Duncan Ferguson (right) to force their way into the manager's plans.
Hibbert came through 7 0 minutes for the reserves this week after being sidelined since the derby match at Anfield.
The player has not reported any reaction to his hernia problem but the manager is keen to give him longer to regain match fitness.
Meanwhile, the Blues boss is not optimistic the club's attempt to reach a compromise over a long term deal for Brian McBride will be successful.
The MLS, who hold the striker's registration, have been in talks with Everton in the last few days but are unlikely to sanction an 18-month loan deal for the player.
Moyes is keen to keep hold of the 30-year-old US international until the end of next season but is unwilling to meet the MLS' £1.5m valuation of the player.
Everton will not pay more than £750,000 but were hoping a long-term loan would bring about a compromise deal.
Discussions will continue over the weekend but it now seems likely the player will return to Columbus Crew when his current loan deal expires later this month.
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