Everton Football Club are unlikely to lure Joao Moutinho to Merseyside this summer.

The Toffees have made the Portugal international a potential target for the new season, but Sporting Lisbon have revealed the 22-year-old midfielder is not for sale.

"Joao is essential to our project. He is captain and we are not interested in the sale," president Jose Eduardo Bettencourt told Portuguese media. “Moutinho is indispensable."

David Moyes is yet to make any significant waves in the transfer market, having only added Anton Peterlin, Shkodran Mustafi and Jo to his squad.