There is no mention of club record signing Fellaini nor Baines – both highly sought after and coveted by major clubs around Europe.

Andy Johnson was sold for a profit and his time at Everton was a success. His move to Fulham less so but that demonstrates Moyes astuteness in terms of knowing when to extract maximum market value for a player. Other player sales that fall into this bracket include Lescott and Arteta.

Heitinga was last year’s player of the season and a World Cup finalist. This season has been mixed by his standards however he too would likely command a profitable transfer fee. Mirallas and Jelavic would also command greater fees now than when they were purchased.

Distin has proved particularly dependable and a more than adequate replacement for Lescott for a fraction of the price. Far from a ‘failure’.

Beattie, Yakubu and Bilyaletdinov are the only £5m+ signings you have mentioned that can be termed as disappointments with any degree of credibility. For two of these players, half of their original transfer fee was recouped.

Strangely, you also mentioned Pienaar. The player’s desire to leave forced Moyes hand however he was never purchased for more than £5m anyway so the issue is irrelevant to the point you attempting to validate.

This article appears inconsistent based on the above points.