I hope Kevin Thelwell can see the same issues as Everton supporters ahead of the transfer window

I think everyone in the football world knows the situation at Everton, but I think it was good for director of football Kevin Thelwell to address it when he talked about how the players will be sold.

However, I look back at some past teams that have lost key players year after year and it finally catches up to you.

Look at Southampton. They had a fantastic youth policy and brought in a lot of talent and sold a lot of big money – especially to Liverpool – and while it seemed like a good business model, the continued cashing in of your prize assets eventually comes with a price. We’ve already done it for a couple of years now with Richarlison and Anthony Gordon, if we do it again then it’s going to put more pressure on the recruiting team to do well.

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We might not just be replacements, but the kind of players to help us get started. Normally, when you have an established squad, you might just need that missing piece, but Everton could find themselves having to buy a whole new puzzle.

I hope Thelwell and company can see what the fans see. We don’t have enough players who are dynamic, strong and physical, but who can run with the ball, take on opponents and play those forward passes.

At one point in the not-too-distant past, Everton had three number 10s in the squad, but now we have none. Abdoulaye Doucoure is not a number 10, he is energetic, can handle and cause a lot of chaos, but the quality and composure at times lets him down and that is why we need more to move forward.

Let’s get the pre-season right, if we do that then it will help us. If you don’t have a set pre-season then it can be difficult, not knowing where you’re going to go and which players will be at the club.

I feel like this summer – not just for Everton, but for everyone in the Premier League – is going to be like two transfer windows. There will be attempts to get trades done before June 30th so that they are in that accounting period and then there will be a second ‘window’ later in the summer as to who you want to bring in to take you forward.

From a business point of view, you might not like to shout to everyone that you have to sell your prized possessions because you don’t want to be crazy, but I think everyone knew. We often complain that the club doesn’t come out and communicate with the fans about what’s going on, but there’s so much going on off the pitch with 777 partners and potential new owners or not, I think no matter who comes in, it’s going to be a difficult time. financially for us.

Thelwell may feel that doing so brings less pressure from the fans and will help him focus on what needs to be done. He needs to be nice and clever in the transfer market while finding money for Beto and Youssef Chermiti, who were signed last summer but have yet to be paid.

We know the type of players Sean Dyche likes, which is good for his style of play, but we also need some quality and that’s hard to come by. I know it was many months ago, but previously we were able to find players with that element of surprise, like Tim Cahill and Steven Pienaar, who can give you something special in terms of a goal or an assist and they didn’t. doesn’t break the bank.

Hopefully the scouting team who have worked hard all year can highlight who they believe will be the right fit for Everton Football Club, but it is not their position to push the offer button or write the cheques. We have to try to get everything in order, from the manager to the director of football and the owner to focus on what is needed.

A few players should be out of contract, which could help us financially, but then it could cost a lot to replace them, so it’s a balancing act to try and make ends meet. We don’t want to have to go through more points deductions or appeals next season, we want to talk about football.

I expect it will be tougher in the Premier League next season. The three teams that appeared last year are straight back, but the promoted teams this year could be stronger and I would expect Nottingham Forest to be better.

The win against Sheffield United just highlighted the transfer headaches

I was happy to see Everton finish with another win in the final home game of the season, but for me the game highlighted our weaknesses and the transfer headaches Dyche and Thelwell will face this summer.

We had a disappointing run of games at Goodison Park earlier in the season, so I was hoping to see us finish on home soil after our recent run of form. There was definitely an end-of-season atmosphere but we did a professional job to get the three points and keep another clean sheet.

Having the appreciation tour in front of a capacity crowd for the first time in five years was a nice send-off to the season and was good for both the players and their families, plus the fan base. The Sheffield United supporters were fantastic, they had a nice party atmosphere throughout the game which was good to see and I wish them well for next season.

However, they are a poor side and I felt we could have been a bit more positive. It should be a three or four-nil game against a team like Sheffield United, but we lack dynamic play.

When Chermiti started he showed some glimpses of why he was brought to the football club with some nice little touches, tight control and a willingness to take on a defender. While it’s good to see, I thought, “Wow, I haven’t seen that from anyone else.”

We have interiors that don’t accept full-backs, midfielders that don’t like to run with the ball and we are very sloppy in the endgame. We’re fine with keeping possession in midfield, but there are too many touches and lateral passes, and while that might make your stats look good, it doesn’t hurt the opposition.

We need someone who is willing to break the lines. Amadou Onana did it a few times in the first half, but his last ball was over hit.

We should be fielding teams like Sheffield United at Goodison Park, but unfortunately we don’t have the quality to do that. That cost us games earlier in the season when Dyche was running with xG, that quality final piece, whether it was sloppy crosses that were too easy for the keeper to gather, a final ball that was cleared or not been on our feet – we just made football look difficult at times.