Pienaar Nearly Ready To Earn His Spurs As Everton Move To Reassure Fans

The long-running saga which has finally taken Steven Pienaar from Everton to Tottenham Hotspur is not yet over – and already the Goodison Park faithful are being assured: “He’s replaceable.”

As predicted by this writer three months ago, Pienaar finally snubbed Chelsea for Spurs last night when Everton agreed a fee with the rising North London hopefuls rather than the ailing West London champions.

Both clubs are believed to have offered £3m for South Africa’s brightest star, who would be out of contract and available free at the end of the season.

Chelsea’s initial £3m bid was accepted by Everton on Sunday night but the club failed to agree terms with Pienaar, who was believed to be seeking £75,000 a week - a pittance next to the £130,000-plus paid to John Terry and Frank Lampard.

When Spurs upped their bid to £3m from an initial £1.5m, they were granted permission to speak to their long-term target, as predicted by me on eNews in South Africa last night.

Pienaar, 29, will now join newly-signed compatriot Bongani Khumalo, 24, at White Hart Lane during the January transfer window and will presumably be in line for a Champions League debut against AC Milan, which has always been his aim, according to agent Rob Moore.

Moore told me: “This move was never motivated by money. Steven is looking to sign that final contract with a side that can offer him regular Champions League football. Everton last managed that in 2005. I think that says it all.”

Pienaar’s transfer to Spurs had barely been agreed when Everton’s US international goalkeeper Tim Howard appeared on Sky News to reassure fans: "The gaffer David Moyes is really shrewd. He found Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill and Steven Pienaar.

"Steven has been our engine for the last couple of years. There is no hiding from that. He has been our star player.

"But my feeling, having been at this club for so long, is that we just get on with it. We don't dwell on things. There will be another. That's just the way it is here at Everton."

The hunt for Steven Pienaar is now officially ON. And it costs NOTHING.

The hunt for Steven Pienaar is now officially ON. South Africa’s leading Premier League star appears to have finally slammed the door on Everton – and is now expected to leave Goodison Park for free in June.

Pienaar himself has said little over his refusal to sign a new contract at Goodison Park, but Phil Neville has had his say – and the Everton captain rarely speaks to us journalists without a strong need to influence public thinking.

Phil – brother of Manchester United’s Gary - said: "The club wants Steven to stay here, but there is not much else we can say. It would be a massive blow to lose him.

"He is such an influential character. But it happened to Joleon Lescott a few years ago and we did not want him to move. It has happened to several other big players.

"You can say to Steven every minute of every day that we do not want him to leave but at the end of the day it is his decision.

"He's from South Africa, he's played in Ajax, then Dortmund now he's been to Everton and had the happiest days of his career I think.

“He is probably weighing up his options now."

The suggestion is Pienaar has already been offered around £65,000-a-week but turned it down last summer before a disappointing World Cup on home soil. That would have taken the 28-year-old from modest Westbury in Johannesburg up among Everton’s top earners.

But it remains a long way short of the figure of £220,000-a-week being bandied around in the debate over United’s Wayne Rooney and Manchester City’s Yaya Toure. And, unlike Pienaar, neither of those two over-paid stars have behaved impeccably in recent weeks.

Rooney, currently “injured” after prostitution allegations, has spent a week relaxing (and not limping despite his bad ankle) in Dubai while Toure nearly came to blows with City team-mate James Milner and drove home at half-time after being substituted in the recent home defeat against Arsenal.

Pienaar, who started his career at Ajax Amsterdam before moving to Borussia Dortmund, can now sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club in January – or he can wait to move FREE to a rival Premier League club at the end of the season. A frustrated David Moyes signed him in 2008 for £2m.

Injury and the debate over his future have impacted on Pienaar’s form this season but he remains one of the Premier League’s top midfielders. After the much-needed 1-0 win over Stoke, Neville insisted: “To be fair to Steven he's got that hanging over him, but he keeps playing well for us.”

Expect an approach from Tottenham’s Harry Redknapp, who has already expressed his interest and has already signed compatriot Bongani Khumalo, as well as former club Dortmund, Manchester United and Chelsea . Former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez, now at Inter Milan, is also a known admirer.

Pienaar chose to talk about racism rather than the race for his signature. An ambassador for the anti-racism campaign Kick It Out, he told the Liverpool Echo: “It happened to me when I played in Germany and Holland. The away fans would shout racist abuse but I used it as motivation to do well against the teams.

“I was determined not to let it get to me because if I had have done then they would have won.

“Kick It Out carries a very important message. The fight against racism is one that the game is winning but we must continue to fight.”

In a further bid to deflect attention away from his future, he added: “Everton has the best away support in the Premier League. When I first arrived I was amazed at how many fans we would take to the away games and that gives you confidence even before the game starts.

“I’ve played for the club all over Europe and the following we have had has been unbelievable. At Goodison as well, when the fans are right behind us and the stadium is bouncing, it really can help players raise their game.”

Replacing the Special One: Sir Alex Ferguson makes a Moyes, I'm going for Sparky

IT'S been football's burning question for a decade. It befuddles the mind of every pundit: How do you replace the world's most special manager?

No, not the self-styled flash-in-the-pan Jose "Special One" Mourinho - he'll be staying in Italy after his Inter Milan took a 3-1 lead over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final last night - we're talking about Sir Alex Ferguson, Europe's longest-serving top-flight manager.

The son of a Strathclyde dock worker took over at Manchester United in 1986, when the Red Devils were mired in hellish mediocrity. Then he was just plain Alexander Chapman Ferguson, aged 45. His qualifications? He'd scored 170 goals in 317 League games as an "unfussy centre forward" in Scotland, including 25 in 41 for mighty Rangers.

And as a coach? After taking St Mirren to the First Division title, he'd pushed Aberdeen - you won't have heard of them, they've reverted to being an average outfit just south of the Arctic cirle - right up with the Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers, even taking on the European superpowers.

Fergie, yet another attempt to fill the yawning chasm left after Sir Matt Busby's 26-year reign, didn't look like he was the answer either. For three years he struggled, losing 5-1 to neighbours Manchester City and struggling to break the dominance of arch-rivals Liverpool as fans and supporters demanded his replacement.

But he got there in the end, winning the FA Cup after the "dark days" of December 1989 and by the time England decided to create a Premier League in 1992, United were ready to become the dominant force in England - and twice in Europe - until the present day.

The full list of silverware cannot be matched by any other manager:

St Mirren:

1 Scottish First Division championship 1977

Aberdeen:

3 Scottish Premier League Titles 1980,1984,1985

4 Scottish F.A. Cups 1982,1983,1984,1986

1 Scottish League Cup 1986

1 European Cup Winners Cup 1983

1 European Super Cup 1983

Manchester United: 11 English Premier League Titles 1993,1994,1996,1997,1999,2000,2001,2003,2007,2008,2009

8 Charity/community Shields 1990,1993,1994,1996,1997,2003,2007,2008

5 English F.A. Cups 1990,1994,1996,1999,2004

4 English League Cups 1992,2006,2009,2010 2 European Cups 1999,2008

1 European Cup Winners Cup 1991

1 European Super Cup 1991

1 Intercontinental cup 1999

1 Fifa club World Cup 2008

Now though, after a series of attempts to reach for the pipe and slippers, Sir Alex, 68, is ready to retire "after one more season", six months before his 70th birthday.

This morning's Sun suggests he has picked out another Glaswegian, Everton's David Moyes, as his successor. Now 46, Moyes has done a reasonable job at Merseyside's second club. He's not hit the heights, though he is currently threatening the dominance of neighbours Liverpool.

Can he fill Fergie's boots? Hardly. A veteran of 535 games as a centre-half, Moyes can be tough. City boss Roberto Mancini found that out ion a touch-line scuffle a couple of weeks ago. And he can be astute - selling Wayne Rooney to Manchester United turned out to be less disastrous than most Toffeemen thought.

But he will have seen what's gone before when Sir Alex - knighted after his first Champions League success in 1999 - talks about quitting. A volcanic cloud of pretenders emgerges. Once there was talk of Sven Goran Eriksson and Arsene Wenger. Then former players Roy Keane and Steve Bruce. Now we'll see Mourinho, Big Phil Scolari and Guus Hiddink thrown into the pot with Moyes.

There is still no direct quote from Sir Alex available on the subject of Moyes. But me? I'd look no further than Mark Hughes. A former United striker who impressed wherever he played, Hughes has sharpened his managerial spurs with Wales, Blackburn and Manchester City.

His premature sacking by the Abu Dhabi billionaires who control Eastlands will be the perfect grudge to carry into the job next summer, after a period of acclimatisation next to Sir Alex.

Sure, Moyes will be the chosen one for a few weeks. Perhaps Sir Alex will even come out and say it. But I'm sticking with Sparky. And I'd be surprised if Fergie himself doesn't agree.