David Moyes and Everton’s new owners are working together to plot for a future of sustained progress. The Blues boss met with representatives of The Friedkin Group (TFG) on Thursday morning as the dust continued to settle on the drama of the Merseyside derby.

Their latest talks focused less on the incredible scenes that unfolded and more on the state-of-play as Moyes attempts to lead Everton to Premier League survival, a goal the club moved another step closer to when James Tarkowski’s stunning stoppage time volley secured a point against Liverpool.

The 61-year-old is refusing to get carried away with the impact of his return to Goodison Park, insisting the 10 point gap to the relegation zone is valuable but could still be vulnerable given the severity of the injuries that have ravaged his squad.

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If and when his focus can shift to the future, his belief is that TFG will want sensible progress rather than quick wins built on shaky foundations. While that represents a challenge, it also plays into his strengths, he believes.

Reflecting on his latest talks with TFG, Moyes said: “We had a conversation about where we are, what we are doing and where we are hoping to go.

"I think it’s too early at the moment to use the word ‘safe’ because we are not safe. It gives us a pretty good feeling but I don’t see us in a position of being completely safe because, with the squad the way it is, I feel it’s going to be quite difficult with what we’ve got left.

"But the players’ attitude and the way they’ve played recently gives me confidence that, if we can take Liverpool on in a certain way, hopefully it will give us a chance in other games.”

His caution is understandable after Iliman Ndiaye suffered medial ligament damage in the draw with Liverpool, ruling him out for weeks at least. Abdoulaye Doucoure’s red card means the midfielder is suspended for one game, meaning that with the wider injury nightmare unfolding at Everton, Moyes is set to have just 13 fit and senior outfield players to choose from in south London.

Moyes’ injury list also includes Seamus Coleman, Nathan Patterson, Armando Broja, Dwight McNeil, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Youssef Chermiti, while Lyon loanee Orel Mangala suffered season-ending anterior cruciate ligament damage last month.

The focus remains on securing top flight survival, and the gap to the bottom three has not grown to the point whereby serious conversations about a summer of transition have started. More than a dozen of the first team squad are on contracts set to expire at the end of the season.

There is an acceptance that some thought has to be given to the future though. When conversation has strayed into that territory, Moyes has been left with the impression TFG want to spend money to improve the squad but to do so in a way that allows them to create a club that can sustain progress.

Moyes added: “I sense that they want to move on and get rid of this past as quickly as they can. The meeting was pretty good. We met quickly on Thursday morning. It was good to hear what they had to say… My gut feeling of them is they want us to spend.

"When I say that I mean they want us to buy the correct players. They don’t want us to ‘just’ spend. Going forward they will try to help us as much as they can and you know and we know that there will be a lot of change here because there are a lot of players out of contract in the summer.

"How quick can we build that up? I don’t really know because these things take time. I don’t think you expect it to be done in one transfer window. I know we have had one transfer window but, in truth, we didn’t have one because there probably wasn’t money to spend in that window.

“Going forward this would be their first transfer window in the summer for TFG and maybe from there we will start to judge it more.”

Such an approach is likely to suit Moyes, who built Everton into a side that regularly competed in Europe during his first stint on Merseyside and then led West Ham United to Europa Conference success. It would be a contrast to the regime of previous owner Farhad Moshiri, under whom Everton spent hundreds of millions on players while lurching between the conflicting strategies of different managers and directors of football.

That was the backdrop to the Profit and Sustainability Regulations that Everton twice breached, leading to two points deductions and the hangover that again limited spending in the January window.

The belief at Everton is that the next financial year, which begins on July 1, will offer new opportunities for a club that has had to sell its best players and strengthen on a shoestring over recent years.

Moyes suggested his relationship with TFG was a collaborative one, adding: "I think I'm probably helping them by telling them about where we need to go to get the club back to a level in which we are more competitive."

Moyes believes this is a situation he is well placed to exploit. He said: “I think my biggest quality would be building football clubs and trying to try to take them on. I think that if I get the chance, I can do that. But everybody wants it to be done in a rush. When Everton had the last owners they probably had more money than they ever had.

"This might not be a club that can get built that way. This might need to be a club which is getting built where people can say: ‘Come on, can we see some progress next year? Can we see some progress the year after? Can we keep getting another bit of progress?... But again, I'm struggling to talk about it until I feel as if we get enough points to get us over the line.”