Although Wayne Rooney today handed in a transfer request, and set in motion his seemingly inevitable move away from Everton, David Moyes has insisted that unless the price is right the transfer window will shut with the England forward remaining on Merseyside.

Everton this morning confirmed that Rooney told Moyes of his desire to leave, subsequently submitting a written transfer request.

Rooney said: "This has been one of the hardest decisions of my life but I feel the time is now right for me to move forward with my career. The Euros were a fantastic experience for me, it made me realise I could play at the highest level.

"To do that I need to be with a club that is playing in Europe every year. I hope the Everton fans can come to understand my decision and I hope the transfer fee Everton Football Club receive will help the club move forward.

"The Everton fans have always been fantastic in their support of me. I hope they respect my decision and I also hope that some day in the future I could be welcomed back to watch the team I have supported since boyhood."

However, Moyes has responded by saying: "I am obviously disappointed, it is a player we valued very highly and I think we showed that with the effort we put into offering him a contract.

"We are disappointed but at the moment he is an Everton player and he will remain that until we receive anything like what we think is a valuation.

"Until we get that valuation there will be no movement. But when you get a player who is unhappy and does not want to be around, that makes it difficult for you.

"He feels he will be better to move on, but if we do not get the fee we want then we will stop him leaving before the deadline."

The transfer deadline closes on Tuesday, after which Rooney, who has been the subject of a bidding war between Manchester United and Newcastle this week, would not be able to leave until it opens up again in January. His current contract is not due to expire until the end of the 2005/6 season.

Moyes claimed that until a week ago he expected Rooney to sign the five-year, £50,000-a-week deal the club had offered him after Euro 2004.

"Up until a week ago I thought Wayne would be signing a contract," he said.

"I had been in talks twice a week for the last four or five weeks and I felt I had moved it on all the time.

"But if Jonathan Woodgate hadn't gone to Real Madrid then Newcastle would certainly not made us an offer which in turn has obviously made Manchester United make an offer.

"That has been the trigger because in my mind Wayne wasn't moving anywhere - all our plans have been undermined by the actions of other clubs, we have been made offers and we have to accept or reject.

"So many people felt it was better for Wayne to leave to improve his future. I have always felt it was better for his future to stay at Everton.

"We have given him his opportunity here, we put him in the team very early and I hoped he would see that through."

Moyes continued: "I have always said I want to build a team not sell one, and if that was every taken away from me I would consider things.

"But he is not being taken away from me - he has stated he wants to go because mainly he wants to play European football.

"And we cannot offer that to him at the moment at Everton.

"He wants that opportunity, two clubs in Europe have come in for him and he sees his future at one of those clubs.

"No players have been mentioned to me.

"At no time have I been offered anyone, and just to re-assure the lads who have been mentioned I can say nobody has been offered to me and I think it is wrong of your clubs doing that without you knowing.

He also refuted suggestions from chairman Bill Kenwright that all decisions on transfer were the manager's alone.

Moyes said: "I am the manager of the club but decisions have to be made at clubs and I am sure that one of the biggest transfers ever seen is not just down to the manager.

"Whatever has been said, it was my idea to give Wayne the biggest contract in the club's history.

"It was when Trevor Birch was here as chief executive. I told Bill Kenwright that was what to do and the club backed me up on that.

"But if people are not happy and don't want to stay it becomes difficult.

"At the moment he is staying because we have not had an offer that is acceptable.

"We don't want unhappy people because that does not work but I want to make sure we get the right price for Wayne."

Manchester United and Newcastle.have had bids of £20m and £23.5m respectively turned down, and there have been reports that the favourites for Rooney's signature, Manchester United, have offered striker David Bellion as a makeweight in their offer.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: "It is as it was yesterday. David Gill [chief executive] is in dialogue with Bill Kenwright."

Asked about the timescale of a move, Ferguson said: "It only takes a second to say yes.

"The difficulty is getting the medicals but at the moment it is not at the stage where we are talking about it.

"We are waiting for an agreement before doing anything else."

Meanwhile, Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd claimed the Magpies were prepared to fight Manchester United all the way for Rooney.

Speaking in Monaco following the Uefa Cup draw, he said: "I'm always confident. I think Wayne Rooney will be in another club by Tuesday, and I would like to think he will be wearing a black and white shirt.

"Our bid is in and it's confidential, it would not be fair to Everton to disclose it. They have had the bid and have to decide which way to go.

"He's their player, he's not our player and it's up to them to say yes or no."

Shepherd refused to say whether Newcastle were prepared to up their bid, but insisted they would do their best to land the England forward.

"One thing we're not at Newcastle is shrinking violets put it that way," he added. "But I would put my house on it all being sorted out before the transfer deadline."