Reports are suggesting Arsenal are set to make an improved bid for defender Phil Jagielka.

David Moyes is bracing himself for the offer after Cesc Fabregas became a Barcelona player on Monday.

The Spanish international has rejoined Barcelona for a fee of around £35M, with the funds likely to be made available immediately to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who is a keen admirer of Jagielka having already seen two bids rejected for the England international.

The Toffees will have to sell before they can buy again this summer with the Everton board unable to provide any funds for the manager to improve his playing squad.

Moyes will certainly not want to lose Jagielka but a fee in the region of £20M will be hard to resist as he attempts to bring in both a striker and a wide player before the end of the month.

Jagielka, who will turn 29 this week, is one of Everton’s key players and selling him would add to the frustration amongst Evertonians who have already seen James Vaughan and Steven Pienaar sold without replacements.

It is believed that their transfer fees have been used to help pay off Everton’s increasing debt – but perhaps the funds will be made available in conjunction with other funds at a later date – since the £4m raised from these previous sales would have been insufficient to bring anyone in of meaningful quality.

Meanwhile, Everton are attempting to offload Nigerians Joseph Yobo and Yakubu to Fenerbahce and Leicester City respectively. Most Everton fans would be keen to see these players leave, but if funds are not re-invested into the squad unrest will only increase at the deemed ‘sell-to-sell’ policy.

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