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David Moyes: 'The job is that we challenge as close to the top end of the league as we can'
David Moyes has voiced his frustration at Everton's transfer deadline day mis-steps after being left with a threadbare squad.
Everton look much weaker coming out of the summer window after a late move for Monaco striker Folarin Balogun collapsed on the day that Iliman Ndiaye was sold to Manchester City.
Moyes has been left with only 18 outfield players, including just one recognised striker, and questions over how high they can aim given their lack of depth.
"Disappointed we didn’t do more business, disappointed things didn’t go our way in the end," Moyes said.
"But sometimes in football you have to live with disappointments and we will and we’ll move on."
Everton had been in contention to qualify for Europe until a late dip in form last season, and Moyes will have been hoping to be in that conversation again this term.
Asked how he coped personally with the disappointment of events on Tuesday, the 63-year-old said: "Not very well. I’m getting too old now to be sitting around at the bottom end.
"I’ve said that to the players here when I came in. The job is that we challenge as close to the top end of the league as we can.
"I’ve got to say, they’ve done a brilliant job of it last year, and I don’t think we were expected to do so well as what we’ve done.
"I’ve got to hope that we can do that again. There might not be a great expectation on us at this moment in time, but behind the scenes I’m rallying them."
Balogun travelled to Finch Farm on Tuesday but Everton identified a concern in his medical results and sought to renegotiate the deal with Monaco.
Although an agreement was found, Balogun got cold feet and left without signing, with Monaco chief executive Thiago Scuro saying the United States international was unhappy with the way he had been treated.
"There were lots of different bits to it. It wasn’t anybody’s fault," Moyes said. "Ultimately it happens in football a lot. The player had a problem in his medical and that was simply it. There’s no other stories behind it, really. That’s exactly what happened."
Only last week, Everton pulled out of the sale of academy prospect Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest following fan outrage.
However, Moyes admitted the club had still needed to raise funds and that contributed to the decision to sell Ndiaye to City in a £65m deal.
"I don’t do the financials here, it’s not me who does it," he said. "But I think what you’re saying is right, I think we were looking to get some money in and ultimately those things were getting talked about.
"We lost Illy, someone we definitely didn’t want to lose. But sometimes it’s quite difficult when the likes of Man City come along looking for your players.
"I’ve lost Wayne Rooney to Manchester United, I’ve lost Joleon Lescott and Jack Rodwell to Man City over the years. On this occasion unfortunately we lost Illy and we didn’t want to lose Illy because we liked Illy a lot."