Steven Pienaar, the on-loan Everton midfield player, will look for other clubs if he fails to agree a permanent move to Goodison Park.

The 26-year-old has played a key role for David Moyes' side since joining from Borussia Dortmund on a one-year deal in the summer. The South Africa international would like to extend his stay on Merseyside, but his future is yet to be agreed.

"At this stage I'm in the dark," he said. "I'm still under contract to Borussia Dortmund until June 2009 and only when they give me the go-ahead can I start to negotiate with any possible club.

"They will only give me this permission when they have reached an agreement with a club that wishes to buy me, but so far I have not been informed by Dortmund that they have reached agreement with Everton."

Pienaar has been linked with Arsenal, Newcastle United and Valencia and, although his preference is to remain at Everton, he will not hesitate to move on.

"I have enjoyed my time here. But the clock is ticking for me because I have a maximum transfer fee of €3million [£2.2million] in my contract with Dortmund that is only valid until April 30. I cannot allow this deadline to expire because this is a transfer fee that is affordable to a number of clubs, particularly in the Premiership.

"So reasonably speaking, I can only wait for a few more days for Everton to reach agreement with Dortmund. If that's not going to be forthcoming, then I will then need to pursue the other options that I may have and finalise everything by the end of April."