Moyes - No Olympic hols

David Moyes: Also wants clarification from FIFA regarding Scotland's independence

Everton manager David Moyes has warned his players they will have to sacrifice their summer holidays if they want to play in the Olympics.

English youngsters Jack Rodwell, Ross Barkley, Adam Forshaw and Conor McAleny will this summer be in contention for a place in Stuart Pearce's Great Britain plans for the London Games.

Everton could also see the likes of Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville, Leon Osman, James McFadden, Leighton Baines and Tony Hibbert included among the over 23-year-old's in the squad.

But Moyes will not be willing to allow any of his men to have extra time off if they decide to take part in the Olympic football tournament, which takes place between 25th July and 11th August and therefore impacts upon pre-season.

"It would be hard to say to players not to go, but, in the same breath, this is their bread and butter and where they get paid. I think they have to give that a bit of consideration"
David Moyes Quotes of the week

The Everton boss said: "Quite a lot of our players have had letters of invitation and am I worried?

"I am, because there's a lot of them with all sorts of things going on over the summer, whether it's qualifiers, the European Championship, playing in America or Australia.

Clarification

"It's a difficult one. It would be hard to say to players not to go, but, in the same breath, this is their bread and butter and where they get paid. I think they have to give that a bit of consideration."

Moyes added: "They do need holidays, but they can't be asking for time off that doesn't fit in. If they say, 'I'm playing in the Olympics then may need a week off to recover' - there can never be anything like that.

"We accept international tournaments. We go on pre-season tours and we don't have a lot of the players, because they're playing through the summer.

"What we're willing to do for those boys is give them a bit of extra time off, because the players definitely need a holiday.

"But I think players going to the Olympics will have to consider their own holiday time and it cannot be eating into the club's time."

Moyes has also agrees with Scotland's decision to oppose the Great Britain team, because it could have an impact on their international footballing independence.

He said: "It would be nice if they got some clarification from FIFA that we wouldn't, in any way, have to give up our rights to have our own national team."