Everton Boss David Moyes Unhappy At Prospect Of Losing Tim Cahill To Australia For Up To Six Weeks

Everton manager David Moyes believes that countries should pay players' wages when they go away for extended periods on international duty.

The issue has come under the spotlight as Everton star Tim Cahill is expected to miss up to six weeks when Australia play in the Asia Cup throughout January, with preparation for the tournament expected to start around Christmas.

Australia switched to the Asian confederation to offer themselves a better chance of qualifying for the World Cup, but they are now obliged to play in the Asia Cup, and Everton will be seriously hindered by the loss of their talismanic midfielder.

Cahill is also being troubled by a knee injury as Everton prepare to take on Birmingham City on Saturday, before Australia's friendly with Paraguay next week.

Moyes said: “Tim has trained, but I'm worried about his knee. “We'll see if he plays against Birmingham first, but we probably need to have a bit of a chat about the Paraguay game.

“The bigger issue is the Asia Cup, because we stand to lose him in the same way we lost Joseph Yobo to the African Nations.

“We've got to respect football in every part of the world, not just in our continent. But we could lose a player who's just been given a four year contract and suffer financially and in terms of league position while he's away.

“The time may be approaching where this is all brought into line, or clubs are going to start asking to be reimbursed.

“I don't think a manager will be able to prevent a player going, but you wonder whether future contracts may stipulate that anyone from Africa, or maybe now Australia, won't get paid by their clubs for these extended periods on international duty.”