Everton defender Sylvain Distin has been left disappointed by Steven Pienaar's impending departure.
Everton defender disappointed by impending departure
Everton defender Sylvain Distin has been left disappointed by Steven Pienaar's impending departure.
Chelsea have had a bid accepted for the South Africa midfielder, who is out of contract at the end of the season.
Distin is saddened by the prospect of the Toffees losing one of their best players, while another - skipper Phil Neville - is being linked to Spurs.
The former Paris St Germain, Manchester City and Portsmouth defender said: "It's disappointing to lose Steven.
"You don't want to lose one of your best players but that's football.
"Everywhere I've been it's been the same, there's not much we can do - just stay focused and carry on doing what we're doing.
"I don't think it's a done deal yet, but it's disappointing."
Not good
He added: "It's not a good feeling when you hope for reinforcements and instead it's just talk about your best players going.
"But you never know if it's just speculation or it's the truth.
"All we can do is wait and see what happens in the transfer window but I would rather keep those two players (Pienaar and Neville) that's for sure."
If Everton boss David Moyes does decide to bring in replacements, Distin believes it is getting harder to compete with other clubs for new signings.
He added: "It's obvious that the league is getting tougher and every team can get big players.
"Teams like Sunderland and Birmingham are buying players that three years ago they'd never have dreamed of signing.
"It's not a secret that we would like to have more players, like every other club, but there's nothing we can do about it.
"We have to stay focused, and we've got enough quality already to play good games."
Derby goal
Distin was on the scoresheet as Everton fought out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Merseyside rivals Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
Raul Meireles had given the Reds a first half lead but Distin equalised and Jermaine Beckford put the Toffees ahead before a Dirk Kuyt penalty earned a point for the hosts and stopped Everton doing the double over their rivals for the first time since 1985.
Distin added: "First half, it just wasn't us. It happens sometimes, even when you have good intentions you can't show it on the pitch.
"We didn't play our football in the first half and second half we were a completely different team.
"The manager was angry at half-time and he made us realise we are better then that and had to give more. What he said worked quite well.
"Four points against Liverpool is OK but everyone is quite disappointed because we felt like we could've won that game.
"But in the cold light of day, three points at home and one away is good overall.
"We could have easily been two or three nil down at half-time so overall it was a fair result.
"It could end up a race with Liverpool to get up the table now but we're having a positive month with some good results and if we carry on we can end up towards the right end of the table.
"There will be less games now, and we can recover properly and move on."
