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NOT many Premier League managers would make a six-hour round trip for a non-league match on a Tuesday night.

Fewer still would do it routinely, taking the responsibility themselves ahead of their own scouting network.

But David Moyes will go to almost any lengths in his quest to unearth another cut-price gem from the less exalted levels of English football.

On Tuesday Moyes drove 380-miles to Newport and back, to run the rule over 18-year-old Darlington defender Dan Burn during his side’s 2-1 defeat in the Blue Square Bet Premier Division.

He was impressed enough to make an offer for the 6ft 6in defender who is also coveted by Fulham.

And even though the fee would not be in excess of £300,000, Moyes is aware of the need to spend any penny he has wisely.

“Even at that level I think I have to try and get it right and make sure we spend it properly,” he says.

“I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do. We have made an offer for him and he would come into the same category as Vellios, simply a young player who might have a chance of improvement not a big signing.”

The Everton manager was keen to keep his journey discreet but was spotted by supporters at Newport Stadium and a plan to stand on the terraces anonymously was spoiled.

“I’ll clock up the miles. It is probably part of me, if I don’t do it someone will take over,” he says. “If we do come into money at Everton then I have got to be in position where I know who I want to spend it on.

“If I only have small amounts of money I have to know how I am going to spend it as well.

“I feel that I have to do my work to make sure I am ready for whatever eventuality and make sure our recruitment is right. At the moment, he wouldn’t be one for the first team.

“I actually took Andy Holden with me in the car. We drove down together, had a bit of dinner and watched the game. I was going to pay and stand on the terracing, but I got seen so that was that.”

But the man who plucked Tim Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka from the lower levels, says it is getting harder.

“It is very difficult now to spot someone in the lower league,” says Moyes. “There are very few who get overlooked, but then you would say look at Seamus Coleman. He went over to a few clubs here and they didn’t take him.

“We got recommended him and took him for £60,000 which we thought was worth doing. Some of them you have to take a punt on.

“We have taken some who it hasn’t quite worked with, and we have been able to move them back out. John Ruddy, Lucas Jutkiewicz, who we thought would have good careers but maybe not what we could offer them here.

“The two boys who came on on Saturday – if we hadn’t spent £800,000 on Magaye and £200,000 on Vellios we would have struggled to get people on the pitch.

“Like every other club we are having to buy in some of our younger players because you are not getting a batch of eight or nine through the Academy.”

Although for now the current Premier League campaign is Moyes’s priority, continuing with a tough trip to Molineux to play Wolves today, he is also quietly planning his summer transfer schedule.

The Blues boss sent scouts to watch Belgium’s recent 4-0 victory over Azerbaijan in Brussels, and they returned with positive reports on a couple of long term targets.

“I am trying to get my head ready for next year and what we hopefully have to do,” he says. “We have to get things prepared.”

Moyes remains upbeat about his side’s prospects, despite admitting overall the season has still been a disappointment.

“We've gone seventh. I'm the first to say I don't think we haven't had a very good season,” he says. “We've slipped in there as we've had a wee bit of a momentum, but we could just as easily slip down because of the group we have got, we are going to have to try and get results until the end of the season.”