Everton leave it late to land Marouane Fellaini

David Moyes last night broke Everton's club record with a £15million move for Standard liege's Marouane Fellaini.

The Everton boss endured an anxious wait to hear if the move had beaten the transfer deadline before the deal was confirmed in the early hours of the morning.

Moyes had been trying to land a top midfielder for months and swooped for Fellaini after yesterday failing to land Sporting Lisbon's Joao Moutinho and Reading's Stephen Hunt.

The Blues boss was battling against the clock to get the deal completed and just before midnight, sources in Belgium claimed it had gone through.

Everton were still waiting for confirmation at midnight and Moyes will be thrilled the final paperwork was finalised before the window closed.

Fellaini, who had attracted interest from across Europe, was part of the Liege side who pushed Liverpool so close in the Champions League qualifier and was ironically due to face Everton later this month in the UEFA Cup.

The deal is a real coup for Moyes, who has also signed goalkeeper Carlo Nash for an undisclosed fee from Wigan as cover for Tim Howard, after a summer of woe in the transfer market.

Earlier in the day Reading rejected his £3.5m offer for Hunt and Sporting told him Moutinho would not be leaving.

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