David Moyes: Why the Everton Manager Has Become One of World's Greatest

With the way Nikica Jelavic took his brace against Manchester United last week, you might have thought Everton had enlisted the services of another prolific Croatian.

Just as Eduardo once wooed EPL audiences with his savvy finishing and cool-as-cucumber technique, so did Jelavic bring Old Trafford to its knees with his sublime double.

The 26-year-old's playing style is a bit more frenetic than that of the Brazilian-born Eduardo, who often seemed to float around the pitch before turning on his venomous ability in front of the net.

If they were music, Jelavic would be hard rock to Eduardo's smooth jazz.

Whatever your feelings as per his on-pitch prowess, Jelavic has cemented his status as a great player and worthy addition to the Premier League. Ten goals in just 13 appearances (all competitions) is testament enough to that.

Everton manager David Moyes can be credited with plucking Jelavic from Glasgow Rangers this past January, where he'd scored 36 goals in 55 matches for the Scottish club.

It was the latest in what has become a long line of savvy dealings by the Scottish manager. Moyes simply knows how to pick the right player, and get him for the right price.

It's a testament to his managerial prowess and eye for talent that Everton have not finished outside the top eight for five seasons now. (They currently sit in seventh place, three points ahead of rivals Liverpool.)

The players who grace his side assume his steely mentality.

It's a reason the Toffees were able to fight back from dead against Manchester United at Old Trafford two weekends ago and salvage a 4-4 draw from the clutches of defeat. (They'd trailed 3-1 as late as the 65th minute, and 4-2 in the 83rd.)

Jelavic played a crucial role in that comeback, but so did the rest of the squad. Marouane Fellaini was impeccable in midfield, and Steven Pienaar was phenomenal in his creative midfield role.

There's a never-say-die attitude embedded within the side that begins when a transfer first enters the Goodison gates. Sometimes it starts before that. Moyes often has a good idea of whether a player will fit in within his chosen dynamic.

Take what Moyes said upon first bringing in Landon Donovan on a two-and-a-half month loan deal back in December, 2010.

"[Landon] will come in and add pace, he's a good finisher and is captain of the USA national team so he has that experience."

Moyes had followed Donovan for some time, and wasn't deterred by the American's previous failures to crack first-teams in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen. Just as Arsene Wenger still brought Lukasz Podolski into Arsenal despite Podolski's own troubles at Bayern Munich, Moyes had seen Donovan come into his own as player since, and decided he was ready for another plunge into top-tiered football.

Donovan has spoken about his troubles at Leverkusen since. "I was just a little kid who thought he was better than he was," Donovan said to Sports Illustrated in 2010. "And it got so bad that I was on the verge of saying, 'I quit.'"

But quit he did not. Humbled by his experiences in Germany, Donovan, who had once predicated his game upon a high-risk, high-reward style of play, started from scratch. He began to realize the importance mentality played in forging and maintaining a productive career. He reinvented himself.

"To me," longtime Everton fan Peter Howard told The New York Times, speaking about Donovan's 2010 loan deal, "he's an old-fashioned English winger." There is no higher praise in England, Posnanski had written. Which, when you think about it, is quite true. 

Donovan achieved a level of consistency under Moyes he'd never thought possible. Kind of like what Jelavic has been able to recreate at the club after his prolific record with Rangers.

One look at the players who are currently in his first-choice XI is testament enough to that fact that Moyes is able to continually find Donovans and then unleash their potential.

Former midfielder Lee Carsley, who was with Everton when Moyes first arrived, said of his former manager recently, "One of his greatest strengths is his man-management: his honesty and integrity. He had faith in me and he made me realise how good a player I could be."

For a manager, there is no possible higher praise.

Each player at Everton is seasoned, and each came into Goodison Park without breaking the bank. (Wikipedia was used to gather transfer information.)

Tim Howard: bought from Manchester United in 2007 for $6 million.
Sylvain Distin: bought from Portsmouth in 2009 for £5 million.
John Heitinga: bought from Atletico Madrid in 2009 for £6.2 million.
Phil Jagielka: bought from Sheffield United in 2007 for £4 million.
Leighton Baines: bought from Wigan Athletic in 2007 for £5 million.
Marouane Fellaini: bought from Standard Liege in 2008 for £15 million.
Tim Cahill: bought from Millwall in 2004  for £2 million.
Darron Gibson: bought from Manchester United in 2012 for an undisclosed fee, although Transfermarkt lists it at roughly £500,000.
Steven Pienaar: currently on loan from Tottenham, but bought in 2008 from Borussia Dortmund for £2 million.
Leon Osman: has spent his whole professional career as an Everton player.
Nikica Jelavic: bought from Glasgow Rangers in 2012 for initial £5 million fee.

Outside of Fellaini, these are all very reasonable transfer fees. And considering the success Moyes has enjoyed with what must be deemed a limited budget in comparison to his rivals for the EPL crown (consider: cross-town rival Liverpool spent £40 million this summer on Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson), the Scot must be applauded.

And it is in light of the excesses dispensed by Liverpool—abetted no doubt by since-fired Director of Football Strategy Damien Comolli—that Moyes' dealings this year have taken on an even more illustrious sheen.

He added four new players in January, at a time when Everton were having difficulty scoring goals. In the next five games after all four players had come in, Everton took 11 out of a possible 15 points.

Though two of those additions were loan deals (Donovan and Pienaar), both had spent time with Everton before (Donovan on that previous loan deal in 2010 and Pienaar from 2008 to 2011.)

Team captain Phil Neville recognized the importance of those four acquisitions, tweeting at the time:

"When you have new signings it massively lifts the players, it tells us the club are ambitious and are moving forward. It inspires the fans too."

Steve Watson, another former player of Moyes', talked of the manager's uncanny ability to find the right player for the club. "When he signs a player, he knows exactly what he has got as a character," Watson said. "He doesn't take any risks."

Donovan was once more instrumental in helping Everton to a result in his first match with the club.

Back in 2010, he had made his first appearance on a snowy day at the Emirates against Arsenal, and had provided the corner kick that resulted in Everton's first goal on the day. The match would end a 2-2 draw.

This year, Donovan played his first match in blue against Aston Villa, who had another player on the Los Angeles books in Robbie Keane.

Once again, Donovan provided the vital assist from his right midfield position and helped Everton to a 1-1 draw.

Moyes glowed about Donovan's contribution on that night.

"[Landon's] work rate was terrific. I played him on the right, left, then down the middle because he was the one who looked as if he had the energy. We've never had the chance to take him off in games because we need him so much with his running and the quality he has on the ball."

ESPN freelance contributor Mark Young recently hailed Moyes' ability to produce such fantastically consistent results with such a limited budget, even going so far as to nominate the Scot for the England managerial position, which was vacant at the time the article hit the Internet. (Roy Hodgson has since filled the post.)

"Who has done more with less in the EPL in recent years?" Young wondered aloud. This author's answer? No one.

Moyes continues to get his Toffees sides motivated and charging toward Europa League spots with frightening consistency each season, he reasoned.

Young's query as to Moyes' potential future looks timely as well. It's been 10 years since Moyes first graced the Goodison Park touchline, and there have been rumblings that he may be on his way for a bigger post in the near future.

The Scot has been described by Everton chairman Bill Kenwright as "ambitious," and Kenwright—ever the astute businessman—has acknowledged that new investment in the club may well become a necessity should he hope to hold on to his manager in the future.

At present, though, Moyes isn't worried about any of that. He continues to do what he does best: win, and win consistently with the resources at hand.

It is looking very likely that Everton, who have that aforementioned three-point lead over Liverpool in the league standings with just two games left to play, will finish ahead of the Reds for the first time since 2004-05.

For Moyes, who has never won a trophy at the club and recently saw his FA Cup campaign end at the hands of the Reds' £35 million striker Andy Carroll, that feat may well be a victory of sorts.

No one deserves it more.