Everton Weekly Update: Scottish Friendlies, Yobo in Limbo, Pienaar Move Imminent

This past week has been typically slow for Everton in terms of transfer rumors as the club further prepares their squad for the forthcoming season with several preseason friendlies in Scotland.

Prior links with Michael Owen, Kieran Richardson from Sunderland, and Juventus wing-back Reto Ziegler have fizzled out and it seems that the major priority is trying to resign 30-year-old Steven Pienaar on a permanent basis.

Sylvain Distin has already come out to declare the importance of adding the South African international to the squad in hopes of starting off this campaign much better than the previous three seasons.

His concern has been mimicked by manager David Moyes, who claimed this week that a possible transfer is "much closer" to happening. As of now, nothing is certain and the drama hinges on whether the Toffees will be able to come up with the £5 million that Tottenham wants for the creative midfielder.

The situation would certainly be helped by selling want-away defender Joseph Yobo, who has spent the past two seasons playing for Fenerbahce in Turkey, although the club has failed to meet Everton's asking price for a second consecutive summer. Yobo is said to be troubled by the situation and both David Moyes and the Nigerian want to have a transfer wrapped immediately as the Turkish club begins preparations to play in the UEFA Champion's League.

One of the new faces at Everton, Steven Naismith, made his debut for the club in a friendly at Motherwell and is slowly recovering from knee issues that ruled him out of much of last season with Rangers. The Scottish forward hopes to be ready to play if called on to make an impact against Manchester United when the Premier League begins in a few weeks.

Naismith has stated that his teammates have been very helpful in transitioning him into English football at the Merseyside club, and also claimed after the 1-1 draw with Motherwell, "I got a warm reception from the Everton fans, which was nice, hopefully I can show them what I can do in the coming weeks and months."

The friendly draw, in which young Irish defender Shane Duffy scored, was preceded by a 0-1 victory at Dundee United. The lackluster game was played after a one-day delay due to poor weather and was only notable for an 87th minute goal by 18-year-old Ross Barkley.

Barkley is one of the most heavily-anticipated youngsters to be reared at the club's academy since Wayne Rooney and many Everton supporters will hope to see him feature regularly in the 2012-13 season.

The creative midfielder will feature with the rest of the squad in the Java Cup against Malaysia XI this upcoming Friday.