Moyes: Beattie can shoot us to Champions League

David Moyes believes £6m (€8.5m) man James Beattie can score the goals that will keep Everton in the hunt for a Champions League spot.

The striker has been at Goodison Park for his medical and after returning to the south coast is set to be unveiled to Everton fans before the home clash with Portsmouth.

Everton cannot complete the final details of that medical until the morning of the match, but expect to be able to announce the arrival of their record signing before kick off.

But boss Moyes is confident there will be no final snags before the arrival of a player he tried desperately to sign almost six months ago.

Moyes said: “We made an offer on deadline day at the beginning of the season after we lost Wayne Rooney, but Southampton’s price was much higher than it is now and frankly they did not want to sell then.

“We are a long way down the road with the medical at the moment, but I am sure everyone can understand that because of the size of such medicals we have to make sure absolutely everything is OK.

“So we are doing that and hopefully it will all be completed in the next 24 hours. Hopefully, if it all goes right and we get him, it will be goals that we want from him.

“His record is as good as anyone in the Premiership and obviously for me it was important to get one or two more British-style players into the squad.

“He fits that bill and for what is available at this time he is probably the best out there for prospective buyers.”

Everton have beaten off Aston Villa in the battle for the former England striker, who moved to Southampton from Blackburn in July 1998.

Beattie, who has been offered a four-and-a-half year contract, scored 76 goals in 233 games for Southampton, and Blackburn are believed to in line for a £1million cut of the fee as part of a sell-on clause.

And Moyes said: “We have been attracted by what he can add to a side. He can play up front on his own, and he can work with a partner. But above all we have been attracted by the goals he has scored over the last few seasons.

“We are pushing to stay near the top of the table and more goals would help us to do that. And also we would like to give the players here who have given so much already this season, a few new faces around the place.

“We are short of numbers and some of the lads could do with a bit of a rest. So I hope this is not just the only new arrival.

“We are looking for a couple more in this window. If not then we will wait until the summer to bring new players in.”

Everton also insist they have had no contact from Real Madrid, following speculation that the La Liga giants are in talks with Thomas Gravesen’s agent John Sivebaek over a possible move to Spain. The Danish midfielder is out of contract in the summer.

Moyes said: “There has been a lot of rumours and I have spoken at length with Thomas today and we had a good discussion and we know exactly where both of us stand. It doesn’t mean he will be in Madrid in January.”

Everton hope they will have skipper Alan Stubbs back for the Pompey game, the defender having missed Sunday’s 5-2 hammering at Spurs with a back injury.

That result meant back-to-back defeats for Everton over New Year, and Moyes knows they dare not slip up again with the race for Europe so tight.

He said: “It is a rarity for us to go into a game off the back of two defeats this season. We have had two hard games, travelling to London twice to play Charlton and then Spurs and experiencing all the fatigue that goes with that, the programme could not have been much harder.

“But it does not take away from the fact that at Spurs we did not defend as well as we have been doing. That made it look a lot worse than it was.

“But now we are back at home and hopefully we can get back on track and it will not be quite as bad a Christmas period as it feels like at the moment.”