EVERTON'S manager, Joe Royle, is set to go on a spending spree abroad following the rubber-stamping of a £15 million shares issue at Goodison Park.
Royle is eager to strengthen his side in the wake of three successive Premiership defeats and, funded by the share capital launch, could now look abroad, for new talent if he can't persuade the likes of Wimbledon's Dean Holdsworth or Arsenal's Ian Wright to move to Merseyside.
He said: "We have not contacted Wimbledon about Dean Holdsworth, but he is a very decent player and the fact that he is out of the side at the moment has stirred things up there.
"The chances of persuading Arsenal to part with Ian Wright are minimal because of his crowd rapport there."
Royle is instead likely to take the approach of Bryan Robson at Middlesbrough, whose foreign legion beat Everton 2-1 at Goodison last Saturday.
"It's quite possible we will have to go abroad because of the lack of type of player we need in this country," he admitted.
"We will search this country obviously, but I have spoken to a number of managers about different possibilities and the answer is always no. Not at any price.
"It's a matter of looking abroad but it always has been, and when you see the likes of Emerson's performance on Saturday you can understand why. It's not just a matter of better value for money abroad, it's availability."
