Moyes explains why he axed Jo

Failure to turn up for training led to his exit from Goodison Park, says manager as he plots towards getting his piece of silverware in the FA Cup.

The Everton manager David Moyes has revealed he decided to offload on-loan striker Jo back to Manchester City after the Brazilian failed to turn up for training again this week. The Toffees boss feared the 22-year-old, who had already been fined and suspended for returning to his homeland over Christmas without permission, was becoming too much of a disruptive influence.

Jo returned to training at the beginning of last week but when he failed to turn up at the club's Finch Farm complex on Monday Moyes' patience ran out and he decided to cut short the season-long loan. City immediately loaned him out again, this time the destination being the Turkish side Galatasaray. "Jo didn't come in over Christmas so we fined and suspended him," said Moyes. "I brought him back in, spoke to him and explained to the players I was going to give him another chance and he came and trained with us last week.

"And then he didn't turn up for training on Monday again so I don't know how many more chances I can give people. "I thought it was only the going to be disruptive to the players, who thought it was the right thing to bring him back after his suspension. "When he never came in to work on Monday that was the final straw." Jo scored just two goals in 24 appearances for Everton this season. Everton take on Premier League rivals Birmingham in the FA Cup today and Moyes is looking to replicate last season's run that saw them get to the final before losing to Chelsea.

"The first job is to beat Birmingham because if we don't do that we don't go any further but if we do then you start looking at who we have got next," he said. "I am driven to go far in all competitions because we've not won anything. The run we had in the FA Cup was tremendous and I still feel that in my blood so it would be nice to do that again. "We probably had the hardest draw we could have had last season with Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester United and then Chelsea in the final.

"But we have become a better team in the Premier League so it is about time we had some runs in the cup." @Email:[e-mail]