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David Moyes is planning a late assault on the transfer market, but has admitted that he cannot guarantee a successful outcome. The Everton manager has yet to make a signing this summer and feels that he has let down the existing players at Goodison Park.

“I’ve never known it at Everton when I’ve been so short of players in certain positions,” Moyes said. “I want to add six or seven players by next week. I’ve said all along we need to bring in that many. I’m going to try, anyway. Am I confident? Well, I’ve not brought in one, have I? So there you go. I’m going to try all routes. Loans? Well, I think I first mentioned that six weeks ago and how many people have I added?

“My ambition is to develop — I think we have developed every year. I’ve got a good relationship with my players on the understanding that I’m going to progress Everton and make them better. But, at the moment, I’m not and I feel I’m letting them down.”

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Moyes’s depleted side secured their first win of the season when defeating West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at The Hawthorns on Saturday. “West Brom’s bench was stronger than ours, easily,” Moyes said.

Everton have been linked with a £12 million move for Albert Riera, the Espanyol midfield player — as have Liverpool, their Merseyside rivals. “I don’t talk about other people,” Moyes said. Shaun Wright-Phillips, the Chelsea winger, is also believed to be on the Everton shopping list as the search reaches its desperation stage.

Moyes was forced to start with Jose Baxter, 16, and Jack Rodwell, 17, at The Hawthorns, but Leighton Baines, the left back, believes that they acquitted themselves well. “The youngsters look fantastic,” Baines said. “They played in pre-season and now they’re in the Premier League and don’t look out of place.

“The manager has said that he’d like to get more players in and the players would like to see others come in as well. That will only push us on. But, if it doesn’t happen, it won’t be a problem because we’ve got young lads who are more than capable.”

Tim Howard, the Everton goalkeeper, urged his team-mates to try to ignore the lack of transfer activity. “Sure, there’s a lot of pressure on the players,” Howard said. “But we just have to wind it up. There’s nothing else we can do.

“No one is going to feel sorry for us and, when the transfer window closes, we have who we have. It’s not as if we can say ‘hang on’ and press pause. We have got to play and grind it out.”